Wastewater Monitoring

How Wastewater Monitoring Works

Wastewater (sewage) can be tested to detect traces of infectious diseases circulating in a community, even if people do not have symptoms. These data can serve as an early warning that levels of circulating virus may be increasing or decreasing in a monitored community.

Wastewater monitoring cannot identify specific individuals who are sick and does not tell us the total number of infected people in a community or the proportion of the population that is infected. It does provide information about disease trends and is an important piece of infectious disease surveillance. Wastewater data can help public health officials understand disease trends and provide guidance to communities about what is circulating, and steps to take to slow the spread of disease.