Water In the Time of Corona(Virus): The Effect of Stay-at-Home Orders on Water Demand in the Desert

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-18-2021

Publication Title

Journal of Environmental Economics and Management

Volume

109

First page number:

1

Last page number:

13

Abstract

In response to COVID-19, many U.S. states implemented stay-at-home orders to mitigate disease spread, causing radical changes across all facets of consumer behavior. In this paper, we explore how a stay-at-home (SAH) order impacted one aspect of behavior: the demand for water. Using a unique panel dataset of property-level water usage in Henderson, Nevada, we analyze changes in water usage from the SAH order, finding an initial and continuous decline in average daily usage for commercial and school users. In contrast, we find an initial increase in consumption by residential users with this effect increasing over time. Aggregated across all users, the SAH order led to an increase in net water usage between 32 and 59 million gallons over the first 30 days.

Keywords

COVID-19; Water demand

Disciplines

Natural Resource Economics

Language

English

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