Social distancing policies (SDPs) implemented throughout the United States in response to COVID-19 have led to spatial and temporal shifts in drinking water demand and, for water utilities, created sociotechnical challenges. During this unique period, many water utilities have been forced to operate outside of design conditions with reduced workforce and financial capacities. Few studies have examined how water utilities respond to a pandemic; such methods are even absent from many emergency response plans. Here, we documented how utilities have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted a qualitative analysis of 30 interviews with 53 practitioners spanning 28 U.S. water utilities. Our aim was to, first, understand the challenges experienced by utilities and changes to operations (e.g., demand and deficit accounts) and, second, to document utilities' responses. Results showed that to maintain service continuity and implement SDPs, utilities had to overcome various challenges. These include supply chain issues, spatiotemporal changes in demand, and financial losses, and these challenges were largely dependent on the type of customers served (e.g., commercial or residential). Examples of utilities' responses include proactively ordering extra supplies and postponing capital projects. Although utilities' adaptations ensured the immediate provision of water services, their responses might have negative repercussions in the future (e.g., delayed projects contributing to aging infrastructure).

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Extreme events can significantly disrupt the operation and maintenance (O&M) of drinking water utilities (DWUs), compromising community access to water in critical times. However, we posit that utility size can influence DWUs’ resilience, as large DWUs may have a greater capacity to handle extreme and sudden changes characteristic of emergencies. Here, we explore the resilience of small DWUs by understanding how a global crisis (i.e., the COVID-19 pandemic) affected small DWUs and how these impacts statistically differ from those of large DWUs using statistical inferencing. We used two data sets that reflect the perspectives of 28 large and 26 small DWUs from 14 states. We found that small DWUs experienced issues involving supply chain, finances, and personnel management that pre-existing issues may have magnified. Additionally, small and large DWUs experienced statistically significant differences in personnel management, revenue change, increase in delinquent accounts, and emergency response plan activation. For example, large DWUs experienced more revenue loss than small DWUs due to economies of scale and larger changes from status quo operations. This study reveals areas of concern (and opportunities) regarding the resiliency of small DWUs in the face of emergencies that can allow policymakers to assist small DWUs.

Drinking water projects in rural Alaskan communities face a myriad of issues, often due to environmental challenges and financial constraints. These issues threaten community members’ access to clean drinking water. Here, we report the built, natural, and social system factors that contribute to the failures and successes of water projects based on 20 semistructured interviews with engineers, program managers, service providers, and researchers whose work involves some element of water infrastructure in rural Alaska. Using a hybrid deductive and inductive approach to qualitative coding analysis, we aimed to uncover common themes in the perspectives of the individuals who maintain and operate drinking water projects to advance understanding of rural water access. Interviewee responses indicate the importance of the interactions between built system factors (e.g., operations and maintenance), social factors (e.g., community engagement), and natural system factors (e.g., water quality) in determining the success of drinking water projects. Generally, the respondents agreed that design efforts that are rooted in the built and social systems (e.g., sociomaterial approaches) and that consider rural Alaskan communities’ climate, geography, and cultures allow for the effective implementation of sustainable drinking water projects.