Water Wheel Jan/Feb 2021: Wastewater-Based Epidemiology

Abstract

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has been in the news a lot recently, because its potential as a Covid-19 monitoring tool and early warning system is being tested in studieds around the world. South Africa’s own National Covid-19 Water and Sanitation Surveillance Programme, coordinated by the Water Research Commission (WRC), entered the pilot-scale monitoring phase in November, following the successful completion of the proof-ofconcept phase. The WBE approach was originally proposed 20 years ago, as a means of monitoring not infectious disease, but communitylevel usage of illicit drugs. In 2001, Christian Daughton, the then head of the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s environmental chemistry branch, based in Las Vegas, outlined his idea in the final chapter of a book he co-edited, titled Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Environment.

Categories