Wastewater Surveillance News
Last updated March 28, 2024
Linked below are news articles, opinion pieces, and reports from major media outlets, scientific journals, and government agencies that highlight the expanding role of wastewater-based disease surveillance in the U.S. and around the globe.
Current [2024]
How scientists traced a mysterious covid case back to six toilets, MIT Technology Review, March 22, 2024
The National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS): From inception to widespread coverage, 2020–2022, United States, Science of the Total Environment, available online March 9, 2024
Water, Water Everywhere — But You Have to Stop and Think, Freakonomics Podcast episode with interview of Amy Kirby, National Wastewater Surveillance System lead, February 28, 2024
Case report: Zika surveillance complemented with wastewater and mosquito testing, The Lancet, February 21, 2024
How sewers are helping us to monitor disease outbreaks, BBC, February 14, 2024
How wastewater could offer an early warning system for measles, MIT Technology Review, January 26, 2024
The Opioid Crisis Is Now Being Tracked with Wastewater, Scientific American, January 24, 2024
Wastewater tests can find mpox, study finds. Expect more bugs to be tracked that way, Associated Press, January 18, 2024
Detecting Mpox Cases Through Wastewater Surveillance — United States, August 2022–May 2023, MMWR, January 18, 2024
Norovirus GII wastewater monitoring for epidemiological surveillance, PLOS Water, January 18, 2024
Predictive power of wastewater for nowcasting infectious disease transmission: A retrospective case study of five sewershed areas in Louisville, Kentucky, Environmental Research, January 1, 2024
Past
Download a pdf of the past news archive here
2023
Four Methods for monitoring SARS-CoV-2 and Influenza A Virus Activity in Schools, JAMA Open Network, December 5, 2023
Missouri starts to test wastewater for flu, RSV, Fox 2 News, November 4, 2023
Early Detection and Surveillance of the SARS-CoV-2 Variant BA.2.86 — Worldwide, July–October 2023, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, October 27, 2023
COVID-19, flu, RSV: How wastewater monitoring can save lives as America faces the next ‘tripledemic’, Fortune, October 16, 2023
SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance in wastewater as a model for monitoring evolution of endemic viruses, Nature, October 10, 2023
2023 Wastewater Disease Surveillance Summit, WEF, October 1, 2023
Why sewage may hold the key to tracking diseases far beyond COVID-19: A rapidly growing list of pathogens are detectable in wastewater, September 20, 2023
Wastewater Surveillance Data as a Complement to Emergency Department Visit Data for Tracking Incidence of Influenza A and Respiratory Syncytial Virus — Wisconsin, August 2022–March 2023, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, September 15, 2023
Poliovirus Wastewater Surveillance Report, New York State Department of Health, August 7, 2023
Use of Wastewater Metrics to Track COVID-19 in the US, JAMA Network Open, July 26, 2023
MDHHS, local partners begin testing wastewater for poliovirus in Oakland County, July 11, 2023
Predicting COVID-19 Incidence Using Wastewater Surveillance Data, Denmark, October 2021–June 2022, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, early release on July 6, 2023
Wastewater monitoring can anchor global disease surveillance systems, The Lancet, June 2023
Response to Vaccine-Derived Polioviruses Detected through Environmental Surveillance, Guatemala, 2019, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, early release on June 30, 2023
Wastewater surveillance as an early warning tool for disease, United Nations Environment Programme, May 31, 2023
Wastewater Surveillance: Vital for an Outbreak Early Warning System, Rockefeller Foundation, May 23, 2023
The potential of wastewater-based epidemiology, Nature Water, May 22, 2023
As Covid Emergency Ends, Surveillance Shifts to the Sewers, New York Times, May 11, 2023
Will COVID-19 mark the highwater point for sewage surveillance?, Harvard Public Health, May 8, 2023
COVID-19 Surveillance After Expiration of the Public Health Emergency Declaration, CDC, May 5, 2023 (NWSS will provide surveillance data for monitoring early trends in SARS-CoV-2 infections and variant proportions)
Tracking health threats, one sewage sample at a time, NPR, April 24, 2023
Mainstreaming Wastewater Surveillance for Infectious Disease, New England Journal of Medicine, April 20, 2023 (although you need a subscription to read the article, you can listen to the audio interview for free)
Discovery of antibiotic-resistant superbugs in L.A. wastewater sparks worry, LA Times, April 10, 2023
Wastewater surveillance panel discussion, Cycle of Health from PBS, April 6, 2023
Wastewater Surveillance for Public Health, UN Water Conference, March 24, 2023
Viruses in sewage help to pinpoint typhoid hotspots, Nature, March 22, 2023
5 Things We've Learned from COVID in Three Years, Scientific American, March 13, 2023
Marin County begins testing wastewater for drugs, Marin Independent Journal, March 7, 2023
Notes from the Field: Aircraft Wastewater Surveillance for Early Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Variants — John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City, August–September 2022, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, February 24, 2023
National Wastewater Surveillance for Infectious Diseases Worthy of Further Investment, National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, January 19, 2023
Use of Wastewater for Mpox Outbreak Surveillance in California, New England Journal of Medicine, January 18, 2023
Wastewater surveillance for public health, Science, January 5, 2023
Transforming Disease Detection Through Wastewater Surveillance, Rockefeller Foundation, January 2023
2022
CDC launches initiative to test wastewater for polioviruses in some communities, STAT News, November 30, 2022
How scientists use wastewater to track the spread of COVID, PBS News Hour, November 27, 2022
Summary Report for the Pilot Program for Onsite Testing of SARS-CoV-2 in Correctional Facility Wastewater, WEF, October 2022
Webinar on Wastewater Surveillance in Illinois: Lessons from COVID-19 and Future Directions, MWRD & WEF, September 29, 2022
The Government Is Racing to Put Your Toilet Under Surveillance—For a Good Reason, Scientific American, September 28, 2022
These scientists traced a new coronavirus lineage to one office — through sewage, Nature, September 26, 2022
How covid-19 spurred governments to snoop on sewage, The Economist, September 8, 2022 (you can create a free account to read the article)
Wastewater disease tracking: a photographic journey, New York Times, August 17, 2022
COVID sewage surveillance labs join the hunt for monkeypox, NPR, August 8, 2022
Polioviruses found in wastewater samples in 2 N.Y. counties, suggesting continued spread, STAT News, August 4, 2022
Wastewater monitoring comes of age, Nature, August 2, 2022
What poo tells us: wastewater surveillance comes of age amid covid, monkeypox, and polio, British Medical Journal, July 29, 2022
How wastewater works to detect COVID, other viruses in Minnesota, Minnesota Star Tribune, July 16, 2022
Something in the water: Wastewater programs track COVID variants in Missouri flushes, St. Louis Public Radio, July 12, 2022
COVID Variants Found in Sewage Weeks before Showing Up in Tests, Scientific American, July 8, 2022
One of the best tools for predicting COVID-19 outbreaks? Sewage, National Geographic, July 1, 2022
Traces of monkeypox virus found in San Francisco wastewater, KTVU, June 24, 2022
Vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (VDPV2) detected in environmental samples in London, UK, World Health Organization, June 22, 2022
Third Coast Water webinar on wastewater surveillance in the Chicago area, Current Water, May 25, 2022
Covid-19 wastewater surveillance is promising tool, but critical challenges remain, CNN, May 18, 2022
The Super Secrets of Sewage, Video by Minute Earth on YouTube, May 2022
Tracking COVID in wastewater is the future — but not in Florida, Tampa Bay Times, May 5, 2022
WEF recognizes two leaders in rapid wastewater testing, Water Environment & Technology, May 2, 2022
Environmental surveillance for SARS-COV-2 to complement public health surveillance – Interim Guidance, World Health Organization, April 2022
How the pandemic led to new insights for wastewater surveillance, Water Smarts Podcast, April 26, 2022
What wastewater samples tell us about COVID-19 spread in Sacramento, Capital Radio, April 26, 2022
Recording from the public session of the first meeting of the Committee on Community Wastewater-based Infectious Disease Surveillance, National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, April 21, 2022
To find out where the coronavirus pandemic is headed look here: the sewer, Washington Post, April 14, 2022
The secrets hidden in sewage, VOX, April 13, 2022
Podcast on testing wastewater for diseases, Ologies, April 13, 2022
GAO Science & Tech Spotlight on Wastewater Surveillance, April 11, 2022
The Role of Wastewater Data in Pandemic Management, Rockefeller Foundation report, April 2022
SARS-CoV-2 Wastewater Surveillance Testing Guide for Public Health Laboratories, Association of Public Health Laboratories, March 2022
A new era unfolds for our public health heroes, WEF Water Blog, March 16, 2022
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