Coronavirus Prompts North Korea To Test Source Water, Wastewater Quality
With the outbreak of coronavirus in mainland China spreading despite efforts to contain it, a neighbor appears to be concerned about how the pandemic will affect regional source water and wastewater.
“North Korea could be inspecting water in the country’s streams and lakes amid uncertainty regarding inflows from neighboring China,” UPI reported. “Pyongyang’s state-controlled television channel KCTV said … the regime’s central emergency management command is launching investigations to ‘prevent the disease from entering the country,’ without mentioning China by name.”
KCTV has indicated that the North Korean government is analyzing local source water quality, particularly supplies that are used for beverage manufacturing. It has also raised a red flag around the potential for wastewater to be contaminated by this latest strain of coronavirus, also known as 2019-nCoV.
“North Korean state media had claimed 2019-nCoV could spread through fecal contamination,” per UPI. “The rumor of fecal contamination may have triggered the water inspection plans, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap. Chinese sewage water can easily reach North Korea — the countries share a 880-mile border.”
Regional reports indicate that the crackdown on source water and wastewater quality does not follow a known outbreak of coronavirus in North Korea, but comes as a critical prevention method for a country that is not well positioned to battle an epidemic.
“North Korea has not reported any confirmed coronavirus cases, though it has said that there are people quarantined for showing suspected symptoms. It has called for nationwide efforts to protect the country against the deadly virus that causes a pneumonia-like disease,” Yonhap reported. “The North is known for having weak medical infrastructure that would be insufficient to fight such an epidemic, which experts say seems to send Pyongyang scrambling to keep the coronavirus at bay for fear that once it enters the country, it could spiral out of control.”
To read more about how authorities test wastewater for contamination, visit Water Online’s Wastewater Analysis Solutions Center.