Cascading supply chain disruption: impact on water industry during COVID-19

Abstract

The impact of COVID-19 on the lives of people and businesses across the globe was devastating. While governments across the world had undertaken a slew of measures to control the spread of the COVID-19 virus within their geography, many of these measures had long and unintended consequences. The restrictions imposed by the governments on the movement of people and goods across the world brought supply chains to a grinding halt. This study identifies the cascading effects of supply chain disruptions on the water sector. Since these systems are closely integrated and the impact of COVID-19 needs to be analysed at a much broader level, this study uses a systems-thinking approach to study the effect of supply chain disruptions on water services. The study develops a causal loop model to gain further insight into how supply chain disruptions caused by COVID-19 affected the coping capabilities of society and how critical services were affected.