Wastewater Surveillance Utility Cost Calculator

Last updated December 15, 2022

Cost Calculator v 3.0

Calculator Purpose

This calculator estimates utility labor and administrative costs associated with the implementation of a wastewater surveillance program. The calculator includes all items related to the utility’s core role in surveillance, namely, sample collection—whether those samples are collected from the influent to the water resource recovery facility (WRRF) or from pumping stations, manholes, or other access points in the collection system. The calculator does not include analytical costs because these are assumed to be covered by your partner health department or laboratory.

How the Calculator Works

Based on user input, the calculator tabulates relevant costs associated with some or all of the following:

Labor for:
- Sampling crew, including traveling to sampling locations, collecting samples, and packaging and shipping samples
- Project administration, including data management and project management
Equipment purchase costs for automatic samplers (for composite samples) and peristaltic pumps (for grab samples)
Supply purchase costs for personal protective equipment, hand sanitizer, ice for autosamplers, including a one-time “start-up” cost
Police or traffic detail for collection system sampling locations in high-traffic areas

All cost categories will not necessarily apply to all wastewater surveillance programs.

Instructions for Calculator Use

Click “Next” to advance to the “Surveillance Program Parameters” screen where you can provide information about your wastewater surveillance program. After inputting the program parameters, click “Next” again to advance to the “Cost Assumptions” screen, where you can modify the unit costs or leave them at the default values. Finally, click “Next” one more time to advance to the “Report” screen where your program costs will be tabulated along with the assumptions.

Surveillance Program Parameters

What is the anticipated duration of the program in weeks?

Where will samples be collected from?

Treatment plant influent only

From upstream in the collection system only

From both the treatment plant influent and the collection system

For treatment plant influent sampling, how many different sampling locations (i.e., influents from different treatment plants) will be included?

For collection system sampling, how many collection system sampling locations will there be?

How many days per week will the treatment plant influent(s) be sampled?

How many days per week will the collection system location(s) be sampled?

For collection system sampling, how many collection system sampling locations will be visited by a sampling crew each day?

For collection system sampling, what is the approximate number of hours of driving per sampling day?

For collection system sampling, how many sampling locations will require police or traffic detail to manage traffic flow?

How many autosamplers (for composite samples) will need to be purchased for this program?

How many pumps (peristaltic or otherwise for grab samples) will need to be purchased for this program?

If there any other equipment costs associated with starting up the wastewater surveillance sampling program, please enter them here.

Do you expect that sample bottle costs (including packaging) and/or sample shipment (or courier) costs will be covered by your partner health department or lab??

Both bottle/packaging and shipment/courier costs will be covered

Only bottle/packaging costs will be covered

Only shipment/courier costs will be covered

Neither cost will be covered; we will have to pay for both

Should an allowance for project management or other administrative costs be included?

Yes

Cost Assumptions

A starting point for unit costs for your project is shown below. You’ll find additional information about each unit cost by hovering over the “i”. Keep in mind that unit costs vary by geography and, therefore, may be very different for your project. Please modify the unit costs as needed for your utility.

Number of personnel in each sampling crew

Hours required to pull a sample per site (not including travel time to collection system sites)

Labor rate per one hour of sampling crew ($)

Costs for police or traffic detail ($ per sampling location per day)

Costs for initial supplies ($)

Costs for sample bottles/packaging ($/sample)

Costs for shipping/courier ($ per sample)

Cost for autosampler purchase ($ per autosampler)

Pump purchase cost (for grab samples) ($ per pump)

Cost for autosampler ice ($ per autosampler per sampling event)

Allowance for project management (% of all project costs)

Report

The values below are based on the inputs provided and should be considered general estimates.

SUMMARY OF PROGRAM

Program duration (weeks)

Total treatment plants sampled (number)

Total treatment plant samples collected per week (number)

Total collection system samples collected per week (number)

Total samples collected during program (number)

SUMMARY OF COST COMPONENTS

Labor costs - for sampling

Labor costs - for driving

Equipment costs

Supplies cost

Traffic control cost

Project management/administrative cost

TOTAL COSTS

Total costs ($ per program)

Total cost per sample ($ per sample)

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