Every day, every hour, millions of gallons of wastewater just keep flowing across cities. It may be just plain water to the naked eye, but there is an alarming story behind every drop of wastewater. Did you know that many pathogens like COVID-19, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and flu varieties are carried through the wastewater? These can be identified even a week before they hit society. However, the dark side is that more than 2 billion people are exposed to the untreated wastewater, and this becomes the main culprit behind many of the outbreaks we have seen in recent times. This is where the concept of ‘Wastewater Surveillance’ comes in as the best solution to spot toxins and pathogens in advance.
In this article, we cover everything about wastewater surveillance and its benefits for municipalities and the general public.
What is the Meaning of Wastewater Surveillance?
- A wastewater surveillance system indicates the process of carrying out a deep study about the sewage water with the purpose of revealing more about the health and habits of a community. It is known as one of the most effective mechanisms to expose bacteria, viruses, drugs or chemicals that people knowingly or unknowingly release into the water.
- Due to the results wastewater surveillance offers, the authorities can easily learn about the diseases, pollution, and other public health risks in advance.
- There are several methods for wastewater testing and surveillance. The main technical methods include grab sampling, composite sampling and passive sampling. Grab sampling is a process that collects a single sample at one point in time.
- The composite sampling revolves around the methods of collecting small samples over hours or days and mixing them. For passive sampling, the authorities need to use sensitive technical devices that absorb materials from flowing wastewater and test them.
- Since these methods are effective in identifying what has been mixed in the wastewater, the scientists are able to get a clear picture of what the general public is going through. This erases the necessity of testing individuals, which is nearly impossible.
Key Benefits of Wastewater Surveillance
Early Detection of Disease Outbreaks
Wastewater surveillance is a sort of wastewater analysis which extends a helping hand to health experts to check whether there are any viruses and bacteria spreading across communities. The outstanding benefit of the latter is that such waterborne pathogens can be spotted even before people start showing symptoms. It is a form of testing sewage water, and if there are even small increases in harmful microbes, scientists can identify them in advance. There is a high potential that it indicates the start of an outbreak. Since it offers time to prepare, this early warning aids the authorities in taking preventive steps.
For example, if we go back in time, the authorities have found some traces of COVID-19 in wastewater. This was even weeks before the hospitals started witnessing symptoms in patients. Therefore, wastewater surveillance data analysis acts as a powerful tool for countries and municipalities to take necessary actions for disease outbreaks.
Community-Level Monitoring
It is impossible to test the entire community at once when you rely on traditional tests. This is where the sewage monitoring acts as the community health surveillance. This concept comes with the capacity to monitor the health of entire communities at once.
No need to test individuals one by one; instead, the municipalities or the central governments can inspect wastewater samples at laboratories, and these samples simply represent the whole community, as everyone in society contributes to the sewage system in one way or another. While the latter is known as non-invasive and anonymous, it offers a clear picture of the community health trends.
It is a simple way for authorities to investigate diseases, drug use, or pollution levels, yet it has become one of the most efficient ways as well. It is just one test, but it represents the whole community! Wastewater surveillance helps save time, money, and resources while speaking for the whole community as one unit.
Cost-Effective Tracking
It would be thousands of dollars for large-scale clinical testing. However, the municipalities can get the same result with a much more affordable option now. It is totally unnecessary to spend huge amounts of money and resources on conducting medical testing on thousands of people. Wastewater surveillance revolutionises the whole sewage testing realm with one pooled sample of sewage water, and that specific sample is the end-to-end representation of the entire community. Therefore, with a single inspection or analysis, the countries and governments can receive deep information about ongoing disease levels, drug use, or environmental risks.
Since the wastewater monitoring takes away the need for individual testing, it saves resources while still getting accurate results. For some countries and central governments that function with limited budgets, the latter will be an efficient and practical tool as it gives collective results.
Pandemic Preparedness
It is always challenging to prepare for pandemics. However, the wastewater analysis marks the traces of viruses or bacteria much earlier; experts call it an early warning system. Whether it is a new or re-emerging disease, these tests can identify it even before hospitals catch symptoms in their patients. Since it helps put safety measures in place, in a way, this makes it easy for the governments to take action and respond faster. In another way, this guarantees that early warning reaches the public and prepares hospitals for the upcoming outbreak season.
This is a strategy that helps officials keep a constant track of wastewater. If the wastewater surveillance is properly implemented, there will be no more pandemics like COVID-19 in the future.
Antimicrobial Resistance Tracking
The world is currently dealing with constraints in amplifying epidemiological risks, and one of them is undoubtedly antimicrobial resistance. It could engender substantial difficulties for the health sector to carry out treatment as expected if a bacteria that resists antibiotics keeps spreading quietly within communities.
With wastewater surveillance implementation, the health experts and scientists can easily track the presence of these resistant bacteria. They can also spot the genes that allow these bacteria to survive. Deep analysis of wastewater surveillance data indicates how widely antimicrobial resistance is spreading across the community. This gives the opportunity to identify areas of concern and address traditional limitations in the health care sector, and it encourages the global efforts to slow down the rise of ‘superbugs’.
Artificial Intelligence-Driven Wastewater Surveillance for Better Outbreak Defence
Why make the whole wastewater monitoring a chaotic environment when you have the opportunity to bring the urge down to zero with Artificial Intelligence now? This is where Tigernix Wastewater Treatment Solution stands out with its embedded AI analytical powers. Our software can spot toxins and pathogens concurrently with wastewater processing. When it identifies irregularities in the sewage, it sends immediate alerts to the relevant authorities, helping them to initiate corrective procedures. This acts as a defensive shield towards the rising outbreak environment.
