Had Dhiyebi, Meghan Fuzzen, Nivetha Srikanthan, Samina Hayat, Heather Ikert, Patrick Breadner, Leslie Bragg, John Giesy, Mark Servos (2022). Using Wastewater Based Epidemiology (WBE) to track the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 and it’s variants of concern in municipality sewersheds.. Proceedings of the GWF Annual Open Science Meeting, May 16-18, 2022.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made a profound impact on the world. Monitoring the prevalence of this disease using conventional methods (e.g. clinical testing) has put a considerable strain on society. Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) allows for the monitoring of communities and lessens this strain. WBE was applied to several municipalities in this study. Municipal wastewater treatment plants in southern Ontario were monitored to determine community trends in SARS-CoV-2. The emergence of Variants of Concern (VOCs) in these communities were also examined. Comparisons with conventional clinical testing demonstrate that the use of wastewater is very effective at tracking trends in the spread of the virus within a community. VOCs detected in the wastewater also tracks very consistently with clinical testing. WBE has become a vital tool in providing data to Public Health Units and other decision makers regarding the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in these communities. WBE is currently one of the most effective ways to monitor SARS-CoV-2 and will be important for monitoring future diseases.

First Author: Had Dhiyebi, University of Waterloo
Additional Authors: Meghan Fuzzen, University of Waterloo, Nivetha Srikanthan, University of Waterloo, Samina Hayat, University of Waterloo, Heather Ikert, University of Waterloo, Patrick Breadner, University of Waterloo, Leslie Bragg, University of Waterloo, John Giesy, University of Saskatchewan, Mark Servos, University of Waterloo