Utility Roadmap
Last updated September 27, 2023
This roadmap offers the why and how of becoming part of a wastewater-based surveillance (WBS) program from a utility perspective, with help from infographics, videos, and other resources. Although there are many aspects to consider when participating in WBS, we’ve organized the considerations into four main steps. Click the buttons below to learn more.
Make the Case
Why?
As a utility, your role in a WBS program is to help identify optimal sampling locations and then provide untreated wastewater samples on an ongoing basis, coordinating the transport of those samples to a partner analytical laboratory. Utility leadership must support your participation, even though you shouldn’t be expected to pay for any supplies, shipping, courier, or analyses related to the WBS program. Further, elected officials, potential public health partners, and the public also need to be aware and supportive of your WBS efforts. Sometimes it may fall to you to make the case for WBS in your community.
How?
- Point out the distinct advantage of WBS over more conventional public health surveillance approaches: it cost-effectively captures all infections in a community independent of access to healthcare or testing resources.
- Emphasize that health departments highly value wastewater data and use it to validate other public health surveillance (clinical, syndromic) data, inform resource (testing, vaccines) allocation, increase public awareness, and even help healthcare providers guide clinical decisions.
- Explain that the momentum is growing with using this tool, as evidenced by the conclusions of the 2023 Consensus Study Report on Wastewater-based Disease Surveillance for Public Health Action from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
- Highlight the many non-COVID pathogens wastewater surveillance can be used for, including those planned for inclusion in the National Wastewater Surveillance System core pathogen panel and those already being analyzed by WastewaterSCAN and other programs around the country linked below.
Resources
These videos, infographics, and other resources provide information to help you make the case with your leadership, elected officials, and the public.
Videos
from MinuteEarth
from the CDC
Infographics
Wastewater Surveillance from the National Association of County & City Health Officials
How Wastewater Surveillance Works from the CDC
Wastewater Surveillance Isn’t Just About COVID from WEF
Other Resources
- Answers to frequently asked questions about the value of WBS, especially: What is wastewater surveillance and why is it useful for COVID-19 and other public health targets?, Who should participate in wastewater surveillance?, What do public health officials do with wastewater data?, and What should I tell my elected officials and the public about wastewater surveillance?
- Firsthand accounts of WBS programs from your wastewater colleagues, including Sewer Stories (2- to 3-minute videos) and Sewer Signals (20- to 30-minute audio interviews).
- Wastewater data from U.S. WBS programs at the city, state, and national scales, such as: California SuWers Network, Colorado Wastewater Monitoring Program, City of Houston Wastewater Monitoring, Illinois Wastewater Surveillance System, Michigan Wastewater Surveillance, Missouri Sewershed Surveillance Project, Nebraska Wastewater Surveillance and Genomics, New York State Wastewater Surveillance Network, North Carolina Wastewater Monitoring, Ohio Wastewater Monitoring Network, City of Tempe Wastewater Data Analytics Program, Utah Sewage Monitoring, Wisconsin Wastewater Monitoring Network, and the National Wastewater Surveillance System COVID and mpox data.
- Latest coverage of WBS in the media.
- Explanations from health departments about how they use wastewater data for public health action, including brief videos and longer presentations at the April 2023 Utilities Community of Practice meeting. (Note: Utilities CoP membership is required to access these two links. Sign up here!)
Build Relationships
Why?
A strong partnership between public health and wastewater organizations is at the core of any successful WBS program. Public health professionals involved in WBS programs can include epidemiologists, data scientists, laboratory specialists, and others from state, territorial, local, or tribal health departments. In addition, elected officials, other community leaders, and the general public are important WBS stakeholders. Well-established, collaborative relationships between all key stakeholders are critical for fostering productive communication and data sharing. As a utility, you may sometimes be the one fostering these relationships.
How?
- Because WBS is ultimately about generating data that can be used for public health action, it’s always a good idea to start by connecting with your relevant public health jurisdiction. This will likely be a state or territorial health department, although it can also be a city, county, or tribal health agency. Even if you work directly with a commercial laboratory for your WBS testing, it’s helpful to loop in your relevant public health organization. Contact your public health partner to inform them of your interest in participating or that you are already participating. (See the map in the Resources section below for ideas on how to do that.)
- Consider convening a kickoff meeting – on ongoing check-in meetings – with utility leadership, local elected officials, and other community leaders, along with your health department partner.
- Get the word out to your ratepayers on social media, in newsletters, or via bill stuffers (see example below) to engage them on the WBS topic.
Resources
The map, videos, infographics, and other resources linked below provide information to help you identify your potential WBS health department partners, understand the U.S. public health infrastructure and the work that health departments do, and engage with your community.
Map
Click the image below to launch an interactive map with contact information for wastewater surveillance programs in the U.S.
Videos
Infographics
How the Wastewater Surveillance Puzzle Pieces Fit Together from WEF
What Exactly is a Health Department Anyway? from WEF
Bill Stuffer
Text alternative for web accessibility infographic
Other Resources
- Answers to frequently asked questions about health departments, especially: How does CDC work with health departments for NWSS?, How does ELC funding work?, What are ELC and NWSS Wastewater Coordinators and how do I get in touch with them?, and What information should I be ready to share when I talk to my Wastewater Coordinator?
- List of state and territorial health departments and a directory of local health departments in the U.S.
- Homepages of key member associations for public health professionals:
Evaluate Resources
Why?
To sustainably participate in a WBS program, your utility must have the resources to collect samples outside your permit requirements. These resources include human resources, as well as the equipment and supplies needed to facilitate safe sample collection, such as autosamplers, personal protective equipment (PPE), sample bottles, and sample packaging materials. Assessing your resources at the outset of the WBS program helps identify deficiencies. Your public health partner can potentially provide support to compensate for resource gaps. WEF also runs a program to address utility resource gaps, although this program may change from one year to the next, depending on funding availability.
How?
- Confirm the scope of the WBS sampling: How many days per week will you collect samples? Where will you collect them from? Will you be responsible for dropping the samples off at a shipping center, or will a courier pick the samples up at your facility? What metadata will you be asked to provide with each sample? The least labor-intensive approach is to collect samples once or twice per week at the influent to your water resource recovery facility (WRRF) and rely on courier pickup for sample transport.
- Estimate the number of staff hours required for each of the following steps per sampling event:
- Collect and package sample: Ranges from about 10 minutes for samples that are poured off from autosamplers already set up for permit compliance or process optimization to up to two hours for composite samples collected from manholes or pumping stations in the collection system.
- Fill out the chain of custody: About 5 minutes.
- Provide metadata: Depends on the required metadata, flow information availability, and how the metadata are logged, but should require no more than 10 to 15 minutes.
- Meet sample transportation commitments: No additional staff time will be required if a courier service is used, but anywhere from 15 minutes to two hours or more is required if samples need to be driven to a shipping center.
- Double-check that supplies are ready for the next sampling event: This is about 5 minutes for freezing ice packs and organizing supplies.
- Estimate the number of staff hours needed to perform optional tasks, such as meeting with public health partners to discuss results, sharing data with utility and community leaders, and answering questions from the public. Some utility managers spend up to one to two hours per week on these activities.
- Identify the additional equipment and supplies needed: Who will provide sample bottles and sample packaging supplies? Most of the time, this is the public health partner (if you are sending your samples to a public health lab) or the commercial lab (if you are participating in the commercial testing contract), but it is worth confirming this. Do you need a flow meter, autosampler, or additional PPE for the sample collection duties associated with WBS? If so, WEF may be able to help. Recommended PPE is described here.
Resources
Videos
Infographics
The Utility’s Role in Wastewater Surveillance from WEF
How Long Wastewater Surveillance Takes from WEF
Other Resources
- Answers to frequently asked questions about WBS sample collection and the costs associated with WBS program participation: What is needed to package and ship samples?, What metadata are required for NWSS samples?, and How much does it cost to participate in a wastewater surveillance program?
- Standard operating procedures from the Colorado NWSS Center of Excellence for composite and grab samples.
- Online calculator and downloadable spreadsheet template for estimating WBS program costs. (Note: Utilities CoP membership is required to access the template. Sign up here!)
- Training modules available from the Houston NWSS Center of Excellence for sample collection (and other topics).
Manage Logistics
Why
Your primary responsibility as a utility participating in a WBS program is to collect samples on a regular basis, package those samples for transport to the appropriate analytical laboratory, complete the chain of custody for each sample shipment, and provide sample-related metadata (such as flow, pH, and temperature). Streamlining these responsibilities and understanding how to overcome common logistical hurdles will minimize the time your utility dedicates to WBS. It will also enable your staff to prioritize safety during their sample collection activities.
How
Although the methods you can use to streamline sample collection will depend on the nature of your WRRF and collection location, here are some ideas that may work:
- Preprint a stack of the chain of custody forms with most information already filled in; see this example form that can be used as a template.
- Prefreeze enough ice packs for an entire week or two of sample collection.
- Confirm that flow data will be relatively easy to document for each day of sample collection.
- Set up recurring pickups with the shipping company. Here are links with more information on how to set regular pickups with the more common shippers, including: DHL, FedEx, and UPS.
- Use a sample courier to transport samples either to a nearby laboratory or to a shipment dropoff location. There are many courier options, such as Mercury. Public health and environmental laboratories are also likely to have the name and contact information for local courier options.
- Ask other utilities for their tips and tricks, either through the NWSS Utilities Community of Practice (CoP) or through the CoP, if any, run by your health department partner for your jurisdiction.
- Talk to your health department partner about their ideas and what they’ve seen other utilities do.
Resources
Unsurprisingly, no fun videos are available about managing logistics to safely collect wastewater samples. But here are some links that may be useful:
- Answers to frequently asked questions about WBS sample collection logistics: How quickly does the sample need to arrive at the lab for SARS-CoV-2 (or other virus) results to be valid?, and Is wastewater considered a hazardous material?
- Guidance for reducing health risks to workers handling human waste or sewage from the U.S. CDC.
- Key Safety Information for COVID-19 and other Biohazards (free) from WEF.
- Protecting wastewater workers from disease risks: Personal protective equipment guidelines by LeChevallier et al.
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