Wastewater Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 at a Canadian University Campus and the Impact of Wastewater Characteristics on Viral RNA Detection.

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 levels in the wastewater of a Canadian university campus and their residence buildings were monitored to identify changes, peaks, and hotspots of COVID-19 transmission and search for associations with campus events, social gatherings, long weekends, and holidays.Wastewater signals largely correlated with clinically confirmed cases, often increased following long weekends, and decreased after the implementation of lockdowns. Furthermore, the impact of wastewater parameters on SARS-CoV-2 detection was investigated, and the efficiency of ultrafiltration and centrifugation concentration methods were compared. Results indicated more sensitive results with the centrifugation method for wastewater with high solids content and with the ultrafiltration method for low solids content. Wastewater characteristics from the building sewers were more variable than overall campus wastewater. Statistical analysis was performed to manifest the observations. Overall, wastewater surveillance provided actionable information and was able to bring high-risk factors and events to the attention of the decision-makers, enabling timely corrective measures. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTI would like to first and foremost thank my supervisor Dr. Banu Ormeci for her support, guidance, and knowledge throughout the entire Master's. I would also like to thank the research team involved in the wastewater surveillance project, especially Richard Kibbee, who has taught me many laboratory procedures and provided continued guidance. Additionally, I like to thank my family and friends that supported me throughout the entire two years of my graduate studies. I am also very grateful for the support of the University administration in this project. Last but not least, I thank the Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks for financial support provided to the project. The views expressed in this thesis are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Province of Ontario.