Public water operators as actors of public health: Supporting efforts to track the spread of COVID-19
In the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, the role of public water operators in their communities has proven critical. Throughout the lockdowns in Europe, committed essential workers have supported our societies by ensuring that clean and safe water was flowing and that sanitation services were available 24 hours a day, immediately at home. Now that lockdown measures are being lifted throughout Europe, this central role for public health role continues as waste water is appearing to be an important tool in tracking the virus in populations.
In the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, the role of public water operators in their communities has proven critical. Throughout the lockdowns in Europe, committed essential workers have supported our societies by ensuring that clean and safe water was flowing and that sanitation services were available 24 hours a day, immediately at home. Now that lockdown measures are being lifted throughout Europe, this central role for public health role continues as waste water is emerging as an important tool in tracking the virus in populations.
Waste water is reflective of society’s health and behaviours. In the case of viruses, traces can be present in untreated waste water. Coronavirus RNA has thus been detected in waste water before it is treated to high standards. Whilst the World Health Organisation notes that "there is no evidence to date that the COVID-19 virus has been transmitted via sewerage systems", the detection of the virus can represent an opportunity to be informed about the circulation of the virus in the population and serve as a tool for public health decisions. In this case, it is particularly relevant considering the particularities of COVID-19: the majority of cases are asymptomatic; and symptoms appear with a delay after the infection.
In this context, international research centres have already emphasised the role that waste water can play in efforts to understand the virus evolution and develop methods to track the virus and set up early warning systems, even before patients are reporting symptoms.
By managing waste water, public water operators are key actors and the members of Aqua Publica Europea, in all parts of Europe, contribute to local and national coordinated efforts. Actively involved for the common objective of protecting people’s health, public water utilities collect, provide, and sometimes analyse, waste water samples for researchers in Italy, Ireland, Germany, France, Spain, Hungary amongst others.
In addition, several operators have developed advanced research, using their laboratories to identify methods and protocols for the surveillance of SARS-CoV-2. The research conducted at Eau de Paris (Paris, France) through the lockdown period found a correlation between the quantity of virus RNA in waste water and the evolution of clinical cases, with a time shift; EMASESA (Seville, Spain) is defining processes and network sectorisation to localise the information. Beyond larger cities, there is also innovative activity in smaller, rural areas such as in Badajoz (Spain) where PROMEDIO is adapting the tools to its own on-the-ground reality.
By sharing these best practices with other stakeholders and with the European Commission and the Joint Research Centre in the framework of the call on a Feasibility assessment for an EU-wide Wastewater Monitoring System for SARS-CoV-2 Surveillance, Aqua Publica Europea underlines the commitments of public water operators to advance research.
