Compact Portable Samplers: The Foundation for Your COVID-19 Wastewater Surveillance Program

An effective COVID wastewater monitoring program relies on representative samples. 

Water samplers are critical components in developing and deploying a community-based underground sewage surveillance program for COVID-19 outbreak detection, including best practices for wastewater sampling, lab analysis, and the immediate delivery of actionable information to local public health officials and administrators.

Wastewater testing refers to numerous water quality procedures examining wastewater's physical, chemical, and biological qualities. 

Officials in certain areas are analyzing wastewater to see whether it contains Covid-19. The test looks for ribonucleic acid (RNA), Covid-19's genetic material, in feces found in sewage and wastewater. 

SARS-CoV-2 causes Covid-19. According to studies, people with SARS-CoV-2 start spilling the virus in their feces shortly after infection. The virus's DNA enters the huge wastewater collecting network. The viral content of a community's wastewater may reflect the prevalence of Covid-19. Modern sampling and analysis methods can identify and quantify it up to a week before people test positive in clinics. Individual testing, contract tracking, and quarantine are possible mitigation and reaction methods. It also enables population sampling and monitoring of large-scale public health initiatives. 

Analysis of viral concentrations in particular institutions such as nursing homes and college dormitories and neighborhoods or whole communities may help restrict the spread and avert additional harm. 

The CDC created the NWSS in September 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The CDC's National Watershed Surveillance System (NWSS) coordinates and increases the nation's ability to monitor SARS-CoV-2. 

There may be a way to identify the new Coronavirus in low quantities in wastewater. Many states, including Colorado, Ohio, New York, and Wyoming, have successful Covid-19 wastewater testing programs. Universities and municipalities use this method to identify community hotspots. Multiple success stories have proven early identification and control using dorm wastewater monitoring and individual COVID testing. These universities were among the first to use COVID patterns in wastewater to reduce community spread inside dormitories and across campus. 

Representative samples facilitate COVID wastewater monitoring. For COVID-19 epidemic identification, water samplers are essential for wastewater collection, lab analysis, and quick distribution of actionable information to local public health authorities and administrators. These data disclose the population numbers in a specific geographic region to estimate the virus's prevalence and quantity in wastewater. Combine Hach® small portable samplers with laboratory testing for automated composite wastewater sample collection that may help avoid outbreaks.

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Process Technology, Inc.

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801-264-1114

The Hach SC4500 Digital Controller

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Technologies are continually evolving, bringing new levels of ease, precision, and efficiency to the market. That's why the Hach® SC4500 Controller fits seamlessly into your existing system while also allowing you to upgrade as your capabilities grow without having to replace inventory. The SC4500 opens the future now with a wide choice of analog and digital connectivity options and clever instrument and data management functions.

For more information about Hach products in Colorado, Eastern Wyoming, Montana contact Process Technology, Inc. Call 801-264-1114 or visit https://process-tech.com.

Hach Data Delivery Services (DDS)

Hach Data Delivery Services (DDS) is an all-inclusive, fixed-cost DDS flow monitoring package. It provides round-the-clock access to data you can share and on which you can act. 

DDS allows you to stop wasting time attempting to obtain reliable flow data and instead begin implementing solutions that genuinely address your wastewater flow concerns. Hach DDS is a highly efficient flow monitoring service. Hach Flow will offer the equipment, resources, and support you need to gather your flow data for a flat monthly charge. And, with DDS, you can finally choose the structure of the service. If staffing isn't an issue, but funding for the most up-to-date and dependable monitoring technology is, DDS can help. DDS can also assist if you are tired of installing and maintaining flow monitoring equipment and want accurate — and fast — flow data without the fuss. Hach DDS empowers you with intelligent data, leaving the rest to us, with programs customized to tackle your specific pain areas – budget, technology, resources, or difficulty.

For more information in Colorado, Eastern Wyoming, and Montana contact Process Technology, Inc. Call them at 801-264-1114 or visit this link.

COVID-19 Testing in School and University Wastewater Systems

Community spread of COVID-19 is challenging to control because symptoms can take up to two weeks to appear after contracting the virus. Making this even more challenging is the fact that many cases remain asymptomatic. As a complement to existing testing processes, communities, including universities, are searching for a more proactive approach to identifying early infection trends.

One of the most exciting advances in Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) is the recently demonstrated ability to identify and measure COVID-19 genetic material in untreated wastewater reliably. SARS-CoV-2, which is the virus that causes Covid-19 and is known to invade the gastrointestinal tract and is extracted in human sold waste.

The broad descriptions for various testing methodologies used to measure municipal water quality are "wastewater testing" or "wastewater quality indicators." These testing methods analyze wastewater's physical, chemical, and biological characteristics and now include testing for SARS-CoV-2. By sampling and testing wastewater samples, COVID-19 outbreaks are predictable well in advance.

To arrest Coronavirus's spread on campuses, schools and universities are turning to wastewater testing as a possible method for identifying and predicting outbreaks of Covid-19 in their facilities. Evidence is still preliminary, but it appears promising that this approach can allow schools to detect potential flareups weeks earlier than conventional population monitoring. Schools using wastewater-based epidemiology detection methods find COVID-19 more efficiently and less invasively compared to blanket individual student testing. The knowledge of increasing COVID-19 genetic material in untreated wastewater by schools and universities allows more precise deployment of mitigation initiatives and response plans, such as testing individuals, contact tracing, and quarantine.

HACH, a world-leader in water quality instrumentation and analysis, provides portable samplers that help researchers identify hot spots. The portable analyzer takes daily samples to determine the presence of SARS-CoV-2, assisting researchers in predicting COVID-19 outbreaks.

To learn more about testing wastewater for COVID-19, contact Process Technologies, Inc. Call them at 801-264-1114 or visit their website at https://process-tech.com.

Pretreatment Sewage Testing and Monitoring Gaining Favor as Coronavirus Outbreak Predictor

Wastewater testing, or “wastewater quality indicators” are broad descriptions for the various test methodologies to measure water quality.  These tests analyze the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of wastewater.

As countries and individual healthcare organizations work to arrest the spread of Covid-19 and to care for those who are infected, officials in some geographic locations are using wastewater testing as a possible method for identifying levels of Covid-19 in their communities.  The testing goal is to detect evidence of the Covid-19 genetic material, ribonucleic acid (RNA), in fecal matter in sewage and wastewater.

The novel virus, SARS-CoV-2, is the virus that causes Covid-19. It is known to invade the GI (gastrointestinal) track in some patients, and so the virus is extracted in their fecal matter. 

Looking at the amount of viral matter in waste water from a community could uncover the level of Covid-19 spread in the population.  This information can then be a trigger for the required mitigation initiatives and response plans, such as testing individuals, contract tracking, and quarantine. It also allows for information to be gathered on a cross section of the population, allowing for a way to monitor public health solutions for large groups. 

Scientists from around the world are setting up pilot programs to test waste water.  The Netherlands has successfully performed a Covid-19 test for waste water and additional programs are launching in Singapore, Zurich, Lausanne,  Milan, Rome, Australia, and in parts of the US, such as Colorado, Ohio, New York, and Wyoming.  Scientists in these regions have been able to identify the novel Coronavirus at low concentrations in waste water, pointing to an early warning systems for communities.  

In April, 2020, the scientific journal, Nature, listed that over a dozen groups around the globe were doing research analyzing waste water for Covid-19, and that evidence of the virus was already found in the United States, the Netherlands, and Sweden.

Figure 1

Sampling and analysis of pretreatment sewage is key. The results of this analytical testing reveal the characteristics and presence of the Coronavirus in parts per million quantities, and can be laid against the population numbers of a geographic area to ascertain the existence and amount of virus existing in the wastewater.  An example of this kind of data dump is illustrated in Figure 1 (courtesy of the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority and Biobot Analytics).

A valuable tool in pre-treated water analysis are Automatic Samplers. These devices automate the collection of sewage samples and prepare them for further analysis to ascertain the existence and amount of virus in the wastewater sample. 

For more information about automatic samplers contact Process Technology. Call them at 801-264-1114 or visit their website at https://process-tech.com.