Household water access and COVID-19 in Karoi town, Zimbabwe

Water is a crucial resource in the fight against coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which was first discovered in late 2019 in Wuhan, China, and which has since become a pandemic. Thus, clean water unavailability constitutes a risk to people's wellbeing as the chances of contracting the disease is high without it. The World Health Organisation (WHO) prescribed hygiene as a critical measure to control the spread of this highly transmissible disease. As frequent washing of hands and observing general rules of hygiene could mitigate the spread of the disease, access to clean and adequate water supply is one of the fundamental ways of stopping the pandemic. There has, therefore, been a high demand for water across the world in a bid to address the problem. Specifically, the general lockdown and the need to frequently wash hands coupled with the obsolete water infrastructure in Zimbabwe have worsened water access problems for the citizenry. This study, therefore, assessed water access in Karoi town in Zimbabwe. Adopting a household water access conceptual framework, the study investigated six residential areas where a sample of 150 household heads were randomly selected and interviewed. Data on water access were obtained from the respondents using interview schedules. In-depth information on the subject was also obtained from four key informants working at Karoi Town Council (KTC) and Zimbabwe Water Authority (ZINWA). The results showed that households had knowledge on the importance of water availability and hygiene in relation to COVID-19 prevention, leading to an intensified high demand for water and consequently water shortage in the area. The study recommends that KTC and ZINWA need to improve on its water infrastructure and enhance the subsidization of improved water access during the COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 pandemic.