Indiana Wastewater Monitoring Program: Sampling Community Sewersheds For SARS-CoV-2

A community wastewater system can provide valuable information about public health conditions in an anonymous and rapidly accessible manner. One area where this is especially powerful is infectious diseases, which are shed into wastewater systems. In response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the scientific community has rapidly mobilized to determine if wastewater monitoring for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, could be detected and quantified in wastewater streams and sludge. This approach is especially attractive, as it does not require symptoms or access to clinical testing to identify disease trends within a community. Many cities, states, and countries globally have been interested in this strategy because of its predictive power when paired with viral case data. Infected individuals excrete the viral RNA in their stool, which is then collected in the wastewater system. These viral detections can then be used to demonstrate the presence of the disease and disease prevalence trends in a manner that is not dependent on clinical testing or reporting.