Wastewater Serves as a Tool to Identify the Prevalence of Coronavirus in Communities
The current spread of the new Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), which causes the COVID-19 disease is of pressing public health concern. Testing influent wastewater for the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) virus is a pragmatic means of understanding community outbreak and positioning along the curve. Working closely with wastewater agencies, the University of Arizona WEST Center is able to assist communities by testing for incidence of the Coronavirus in sewage. They can evaluate influent samples to determine whether COVID-19 has been shed in a community and if so, what percentage of the virus remains viable. Monitoring sewage offers community leaders a unique set of data since it can be used to evaluate if the virus is present in a community even if individuals are asymptomatic (i.e. show no visible symptoms). Sewage testing can also quantify potential risk of infection to wastewater workers. For more information about wastewater surveillance of Coronavirus and details on services available to interested agencies, please contact Greg Kester.

 

Treated Wastewater Safe from the COVID-19 Virus
On April 21, the State Water Board released a fact sheet on the efficacy of wastewater and sludge treatment on inactivating the SARS-CoV-2 Virus. “Sanitation experts have determined that existing treatment plant disinfection processes successfully disinfect wastewater containing the COVID-19 virus.” The Fact Sheet is a helpful resources for responding to safety and health concerns, and includes a number of strong statements from the Water Board. Read more here: California’s Recycled Water and Treated Wastewater Is Safe from the COVID-19 Virus

Updates to CASA COVID-19 Webpage
As new information is released and obtained, CASA continues to update our COVID-19 webpage. Some recent additions include: