SARS-CoV-2 in Detroit Wastewater

Abstract

Untreated wastewater samples were collected from the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) Water Resource Recovery Facility (WRRF) located in southeast Michigan between April 8 and May 26, 2020. The WRRF is the largest single-site wastewater treatment facility in the US, and it receives wastewater from its service area via three main interceptors: Detroit River Interceptor (DRI), North Interceptor-East Arm (NI-EA), and Oakwood-Northwest-Wayne County Interceptor (O-NWI). A total of 54 untreated wastewater samples were collected (18 per interceptor) at the point of intake into the WRRF. Viruses were isolated from wastewater using electropositive NanoCeram column filters (Argonide, Sanford, Florida). For each sample, an average of 45 L of wastewater was passed through NanoCeram electropositive cartridge filters at a rate of no more than 11.3 L=m. Viruses were eluted and concentrated and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) concentrations were quantified with reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). SARS-CoV-2 was detected in 100% of samples, and measured concentrations were in the range of 10 4-10 5 genomic copies/L. Quantification of concentrations of human viruses, such as SARS-CoV-2, in wastewater is a critical first step in the development of wastewater-based epidemiology predictive methods. However, accurate prediction involves the incorporation of multiple other measurements, data, and processes, such as the estimation of fate and detention times of viruses in the sewer collection network, estimation of contributing population, incorporation of disease characteristics based on anthropometric data, and others. A viral disease prediction model (Viral PD) that incorporates all these other inputs is currently being developed for COVID-19 in Detroit, Michigan.

Long-Term Monitoring of SARS-COV-2 RNA in Wastewater in Brazil: A More Responsive and Economical Approach

“…3). Therefore, there is a correlation between the amount of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater and the hospitalization data, as observed by other authors 7,11,23,24 . However, few studies have reported long-term monitoring (over several months) of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater 11,25 .…”

Early-pandemic wastewater surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in Southern Nevada: Methodology, occurrence, and incidence/prevalence considerations

“…Although much can be learned from existing literature on virus detection in environmental matrices ( Haramoto et al., 2018 ; Ye et al., 2016 ), the rapid onset of COVID-19 presented a number of challenges for implementation of wastewater surveillance, particularly in identifying suitable methods for detection and quantification of SARS-CoV-2 (an enveloped RNA virus) in a complex, solids-rich matrix. Numerous studies have reported detection and/or quantification of SARS-CoV-2 genetic material in untreated wastewater ( Ahmed et al., 2020 ; Gonzalez et al., 2020 ; Green et al., 2020 ; Medema et al., 2020 ; Miyani et al., 2020 ; Nemudryi et al., 2020 ; Sherchan et al., 2020 ; Wu et al., 2020b ), treated wastewater ( Wurtzer et al., 2020 ), and wastewater-associated solids ( Peccia et al., 2020 ). However, the methods in these early studies vary widely, potentially confounding comparisons across studies.…”

High-throughput wastewater analysis for substance use assessment in central New York during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…7,8 Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in 2019, research groups worldwide have demonstrated the feasibility and scalability of monitoring severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in wastewater or sludge to track and/or predict the transmission and control of SARS-CoV-2 in sewered communities. [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] Given the widespread efforts on wastewater sampling brought by these SARS-CoV-2 surveillance platforms, co-analysis of human biomarkers in wastewater for substance use assessment represents an attractive strategy to gain additional insights into population behavior and health status underlying the susceptibility to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID- 19) and its adverse outcomes. Indeed, recent reviews and meta-analyses have highlighted common risk factors for COVID-19 and substance use.…”