Utilities’ Barriers to Wastewater Surveillance Program Participation

Last updated November 29, 2023

In 2023, WEF organized in-person workshops in each of the EPA/HHS regions in collaboration with the CDC and EPA. These workshops were focused on identifying barriers to utility participation in wastewater surveillance programs and solutions for overcoming those barriers. We appreciate the 316 attendees from health departments, laboratories, utilities, government agencies, non-governmental associations, and universities who generously shared their ideas with us. (Find out more about future workshops and other events here!)

A map of the United States with locations and dates of workshop events, and the number of attendees at each event.
Map showing locations of the 10 Wastewater Surveillance Utility Needs Workshops hosted by WEF in 2023 in each EPA/HHS Region

A total of 998 barriers were identified by small groups across the 10 workshops. This included repeats. For example, “Lack of funding” was mentioned 14 times, while “Funding” and “Cost” were mentioned seven and six times, respectively. WEF organized these barriers into 13 overall categories and a total of 55 subcategories. All barriers, organized by category and subcategory, are listed on, and available for download from, the “Barriers” tab on the workshop outputs dashboard.

Bar graph showing different categories of barriers identified during wastewater surveillance utility needs workshops on the x-axis and number of times that barrier was mentioned on the y-axis.
Screenshot of the “Barriers” tab in the workshop outputs dashboard: click on the image to navigate to the dashboard

In order from the most common to the least common, the 13 categories of barriers are: motivation, staffing, data, politics, knowledge, funding, logistics, communication, ethics, relationships, equipment/supplies, infrastructure, and safety. The top quintile (n = 11) of subcategories (with the number of times mentioned) are:

  • Lack of adequate utility personnel (mentioned 92 times)
  • Lack of funding in general (70)
  • Lack of guidance (61)
  • Issues with sample transport (38)
  • Not understanding how data are used for action (37)
  • Concerns about data validity (34)
  • Insufficient training (31)
  • Concerns about community perception (29)
  • General politics (29)
  • Lack of utility leadership support (28)
  • Lack of equipment (27)

WEF is working with its partners to generate information and develop resources to address these barriers, including an evaluation of the use of stipend payments from health departments to utilities, developing a sampling Standard Operating Procedure for sample collection, continuing to share lessons learned on the NWSS Utilities CoP calls, developing online training modules and continuing to offer customized training, providing materials for “making the case” for participating in wastewater surveillance programs, and continuing to provide free autosamplers and flow meters.