Researchers have mapped declines in air pollution after lockdowns were imposed around the world in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but those are not the only environmental impacts they expect to see. They think the cleaner air could also mean cleaner water – at least in the short term.
“The connection between atmosphere and surface water quality is very tight,” said Dennis Hallema, a hydrologist and research assistant professor in NC State’s Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources. “These two systems are integrally linked. The question is: How much of a change in quality do we expect to see?”
In a letter to the journal Ecological Processes, Hallema and his collaborators reported that when they looked at satellite data collected by NASA between March 23 and April 5 of this year, they saw “significant” declines in certain pollutants in the air compared with a similar period last year. The researchers focused on assessing the impact of travel restrictions and other measures imposed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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