The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Water Consumption in a Selected Tourist Destination in Poland

The aim of the study was to analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on water consumption in tourist destinations. The city of Ostróda, located in north-eastern Poland in the Warmian-Masurian Province, was selected as the subject of the study. The data for the analysis was obtained from Przedsiębiorstwo Wodociągów i Kanalizacji Ostróda sp. z o.o. (Ostróda Water Supply and Sewerage Company). It included monthly water consumption in individual consumer groups and the hourly volume of water pumped into the network. The following periods were subjected to a comparative analysis: before (1 January 2018–31 March 2020), during the pandemic (1 April 2020–31 May 2022), and in the phase of easing restrictions (1 June 2022–31 December 2023). Water consumption was analyzed using parametric and non-parametric tests in individual customer groups, with a distinction made between the following sectors: households, non-production services, food industry, wholesale, production services, and other industries. In addition, an analysis was carried out of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the daily and hourly unevenness of water supply to the water supply network in individual research periods. Based on the analyses carried out, it was found that the impact of the pandemic on total water consumption in the water supply system was insignificant, but varied greatly among individual consumer groups. However, the pandemic did not have a major impact on the values of the coefficients of unevenness of water supply to the network or on the volume and times of peak supply. Based on the analyses, it was found that the COVID-19 pandemic did not significantly affect water consumption in households, but significant changes were observed in the industrial and service sectors (η2 = 0.26–0.37; ε2 = 0.36–0.52). There was no significant impact of the pandemic on the values of water supply irregularity coefficients or the size and hours of water supply peaks.