Water resources, public policies and the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract The novel coronavirus pandemic has resulted in global socioeconomic impacts; however, there is still a need to improve understanding and data about its form and patterns of propagation. Therefore, studies on the role of water resources and sanitation should be prioritized, given the potential to serve as a means of dispersing the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19 disease. So far, the RNA of the transmitting virus has been detected in domestic sewage in several countries, but there is, so far, no evidence of contamination by direct contact with these effluents. Even so, poor regions without adequate treatment of water and sewage, as occur in Brazil, must act in order to develop efficient policies to improve water quality aimed at public health. One of the options is the formation of a Hub that aggregates the various interrelated aspects of water and sanitation into a cohesive and actionable whole. It is essential to combine investment, research, and monitoring of water and effluent quality to improve sanitary security, water quality and human health, with an emphasis on the poorest sectors. The Hub would also serve as a means of controlling and monitoring the dispersion of pathogens such as the SARS-CoV-2 virus, thus mitigating economic and societal impacts.