COVID-19 and Informal Settlements - Implications for Water, Sanitation and Health in India and Indonesia

Date: 14/8/2020

Handling Editor: Michael McClain

The Handling Editor requested revisions; the article has been returned to the authors to make this revision.

Date: 18/6/2020

Handling Editor: Michael McClain

The Article has been revised, this article remains a preprint article and peer-review has not been completed.

1. Please include a description of the method/approach you applied to extend the results of your 2019 data collection from the two settlements into this identification of “the impact of COVID-19 on existing water and sanitation practices…”  You state only that you built on the 2019 pre-pandemic data “through consultations with in-country consortium members during the pandemic”. Were these “consultations” simply conversations? Was any systematic approach applied? Was the approach consistent between India and Indonesia? Was any published process followed to arrive at described “impacts of COVID-19”?

Response: In addition to verbal discussions and existing expert knowledge from our in-country consortium members the co-authors Mr. Hemant Chaturvedi (India) and Dr. Dewi Nur Aisyah (Indonesia) directly contributed to the article. The in-country co-authors were emailed the following questions and they collated responses in the form of qualitative responses leveraging their in-country networks.   

1. How do women collect water in slums (pre COVID and now in lockdown)
2. What is the sanitation situation in slums (pre COVID and now)
3. Any targeted WASH interventions in slums in COVID-19 period?
4. Is there household water supply and toilets in our study slums?
5. Are there any leakages in pipes?
6. What type of sewage treatment options are there – none, pit latrines or other
7. Is flooding a challenge?

Responses to the above questions were reviewed and discussed by all the authors and then synthesized into our final article. We have clarified this point in our manuscript.

2. In the text you state that “Residents in our study settlements in India pay for water tankers whilst in Indonesia; the government reduced the price of clean water for communities during the pandemic.” However, the relevance of this different to the impacts of COVID-19 in the two settlements is not explained. For India, you indicate that purchasing water from vendors, regardless of the price, is not a long-term solution. What is the relevance then of the reduced price in Indonesia?

Response: The implication was more short- term. COVID-19 requires frequent hand washing and improved hygiene practices increasing water consumption but without subsidies for water access communities face an added economic burden. So we were highlighting the added burden of COVID-19 especially in the settlements in India. The text has been modified to clarify this point.

In the long-term we advocate for improved and safe water and sanitation services in settlements.

3. Please also review the sentence “Women who use public toilets not only take the risk of enhanced exposure to COVID due to the toilets and associated surfaces being dirty and close physically proximity to other users.” By including “not only” in this sentence you suggest to the reader that something more than “the risk of enhanced exposure to COVID” will be described. Is there something more, or should “not only” simply be deleted?

Response: Agreed and we have now deleted “not only” from that sentence.

Thank you for your careful and complete job of responding to the reviewers' minor and largely complimentary comments.

I have been asked to usher your manuscript through the final stage of the editorial process. For that I request a final set of minor revisions.

1. Please include a description of the method/approach you applied to extend the results of your 2019 data collection from the two settlements into this identification of “the impact of COVID-19 on existing water and sanitation practices…”  You state only that you built on the 2019 pre-pandemic data “through consultations with in-country consortium members during the pandemic”. Were these “consultations” simply conversations? Was any systematic approach applied? Was the approach consistent for India and Indonesia? Was any published process followed to arrive at described “impacts of COVID-19”?

2. In the text you state that “Residents in our study settlements in India pay for water tankers whilst in Indonesia; the government reduced the price of clean water for communities during the pandemic.” However, the relevance of this different to the impacts of COVID-19 in the two settlements is not explained. For India, you indicate that purchasing water from vendors, with no reference to price, is not a long-term solution. What is the relevance then of the reduced price in Indonesia?

3. Please also review the sentence “Women who use public toilets not only take the risk of enhanced exposure to COVID due to the toilets and associated surfaces being dirty and close physically proximity to other users.” By including “not only” in this sentence you suggest to the reader that something more than “the risk of enhanced exposure to COVID” will be described. Is there something more, or should “not only” simply be deleted?

I look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.