Sewage tests pitched as way to track COVID-19
Hamilton eyeing two research experiments that could measure virus trends, concentrations
Hamilton residents could soon help flush out COVID-19 outbreaks with every trip to the loo.
The city is eyeing two different experiments — including one pitched by McMaster University researchers — that would test sewage flowing into the Woodward treatment plant to measure spikes in coronavirus infection.
It turns out pandemic poo could be an early warning system for fresh COVID-19 outbreaks in cities.
“We’ve learned the virus stays alive in feces for a long period of time — weeks and weeks,” said McMaster professor and environmental engineering expert Gail Krantzberg.
In theory, that should make it easy to detect coronavirus concentrations in raw sewage — which cities already sample at the plant or in sewer pipes to measure E. coli and metals.
Krantzberg and McMaster colleague Zobia Jawed hope to work with cities to “co-develop” a methodology to test and analyze sewage “right on-site” in local treatment plants.
“We can’t tell you how many people have the virus, but we can measure trends and concentrations over time,” said Krantzberg, who noted past sewage testing has helped track everything from drug use to polio. If it works, the tests could help public health experts keep ahead of local COVID-19 outbreaks.
Krantzberg has had “preliminary” conversations with Hamilton officials, but is waiting to nail down research funding before formally approaching partners. “Ideally, I’d love to start testing
within a month,” she said.
City water director Andrew Grice confirmed he is interested in learning more about Krantzberg’s project, noting Hamilton has partnered in the past to study “emerging” sewage contaminants like pharmaceuticals. Hamilton has also “signed on” to support a national coalition that is recruiting cities for a separate COVID-19 sewage experiment. That Canadian Water Network coalition is asking cities to submit raw sewage samples to a central lab for analysis.
It is too soon to say how many cities will participate in the coalition’s “proof of concept” pilot, said public health risk expert Steve Hrudey, the advisory group chair. “But we do want to get started as soon as possible, because every expert is predicting subsequent waves of (COVID-19) infection,” he said.