Surveillance of Wastewater for Early Epidemic Prediction (SWEEP): Environmental and health security perspectives in the post COVID-19 Anthropocene

Abstract

The present work summarizes the major research findings related to wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) study of COVID-19 and puts forward a conceptual framework, termed as “ Surveillance of Wastewater for Early Epidemic Prediction (SWEEP) ” for implementation of WBE. SWEEP framework is likely to tackle few practical issues related to WBE and simultaneously proposes refinements to the approach for better outcome and efficiency to save precious lives around the globe. It is observed that the present pandemic offers an opportunity for SWEEP to get included in routine urban water management to put the humankind at front to stop such pandemic in future or at least be prepared to fight against it. With global collaboration, SWEEP can be fine-tuned to meet diverse needs, making the present and future generations resilient to future viral outbreaks. Recent WBE studies conducted to check for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater revealed that raw sewage samples tested positive to PCR-based assays while the treated samples showed absence of viral titers. Moreover, the lockdown had a positive impact on decreasing the viral loading in sewage. The proposed SWEEP protocol has an advantage over testifying individuals for predicting the stage of pandemic.

Municipal wastewater viral pollution in Saudi Arabia: effect of hot climate on COVID-19 disease spreading

“…The sewage treatment procedures used mostly destroyed the viral RNA, and the spread of the disease through wastewater and sewage treatment plant workers is assessed as minimal. The wastewater surveillance has now been suggested as a routine approach to help in controlling COVID-19, and it seems to work in low-prevalence areas (Black et al 2021 ; Rooney et al 2021 ; Tiwari et al 2021 ). However, in a hot climate, the efficiency of wastewater surveillance is not proved, and we can only make tentative conclusions.…”

Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Urban Water Cycle

“…The chance of contamination of municipal water supply by coronavirus is high in regions with high population density and low-capacity sewage treatment facilities [6,[73][74][75]. Municipal water supply systems may be contaminated by coronavirus because of combined sewer overflow and inadequate wastewater disinfection [6].…”

“…The coronavirus may be related to wastewater because some originates in the feces and urine of infected people [76][77][78]. SARS-CoV-2 can also be inactivated by filtration and disinfection [73,75,79,80].…”

“…Testing wastewater is an effective method to identify if COVID-19 is present in a community, and can provide early detection before spreading to the number of cases [84,85]. Tiwari et al [75] suggested that the COVID-19 pandemic offers an opportunity to include Surveillance of Wastewater for Early Epidemic Prediction (SWEEP) in routine urban water management to put the humankind at front to mitigate such pandemics in the similar situations [86].…”

SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens in municipal wastewater, landfill leachate, and solid waste: A review about virus surveillance, infectivity, and inactivation

“…WBE can be processed to obtain an unbiased surveillance system and reflect community health ( Scott et al, 2021 ; Yaniv et al, 2021 ; Tomasino et al, 2021 ). It is scalable, economical and provides rapid results for emergent and re-emergent pathogens ( Polo et al, 2020 ; Randazzo et al, 2020 ; Tiwari et al, 2021 ).…”