CaltechAUTHORS
Published May 1, 2021 | Version public
Journal Article Metadata-only

Wastewater Surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 on College Campuses: Initial Efforts, Lessons Learned, and Research Needs

Creators

  • 1. ROR icon University of California, Berkeley
  • 2. ROR icon University of Arizona
  • 3. ROR icon University of California, Davis
  • 4. ROR icon University of Notre Dame
  • 5. ROR icon Colorado College
  • 6. ROR icon University of Massachusetts Amherst
  • 7. ROR icon St. John Fisher College
  • 8. ROR icon Colorado State University
  • 9. ROR icon University of California, San Diego
  • 10. ROR icon Syracuse University
  • 11. ROR icon Siena College
  • 12. ROR icon University of New Hampshire
  • 13. ROR icon University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • 14. ROR icon Oregon State University
  • 15. ROR icon Wayne State University
  • 16. ROR icon Utah State University
  • 17. ROR icon Tulane University
  • 18. ROR icon University of Idaho
  • 19. ROR icon University of Maine
  • 20. ROR icon University of Rochester

Abstract

Wastewater surveillance for the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is an emerging approach to help identify the risk of a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak. This tool can contribute to public health surveillance at both community (wastewater treatment system) and institutional (e.g., colleges, prisons, and nursing homes) scales. This paper explores the successes, challenges, and lessons learned from initial wastewater surveillance efforts at colleges and university systems to inform future research, development and implementation. We present the experiences of 25 college and university systems in the United States that monitored campus wastewater for SARS-CoV-2 during the fall 2020 academic period. We describe the broad range of approaches, findings, resources, and impacts from these initial efforts. These institutions range in size, social and political geographies, and include both public and private institutions. Our analysis suggests that wastewater monitoring at colleges requires consideration of local information needs, sewage infrastructure, resources for sampling and analysis, college and community dynamics, approaches to interpretation and communication of results, and follow-up actions. Most colleges reported that a learning process of experimentation, evaluation, and adaptation was key to progress. This process requires ongoing collaboration among diverse stakeholders including decision-makers, researchers, faculty, facilities staff, students, and community members.

Additional Information

© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). (This article belongs to the Section Infectious Disease Epidemiology). The authors would like to thank these individuals for their important contributions to this research and information about their colleges' wastewater surveillance systems: Aaron Best, Walter Betancourt, Cindi K. Brinkman, Logan Bullough, Lifang Chiang, Erik R. Coats, Ryan Dupont, David Freedman, Elmer Johnson, Rob Knight, Karl Korfmacher, Erin K. Lipp, Erin A. Mack, Christopher Maroney, Simona Matsoyan, Alan Palmer, Ian Pepper, Shalina Shahin, Lachlan Squair, Eva M. Top, and Rogelio Zuniga-Montanez. The content of this manuscript is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the views of contributors, interviewees, or institutions included in the study. This research was funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, grant P30 ES001247 (to K.S.K.), and by the Catena Foundation (to K.L.N. and S.H.L.). The APC was supported by the Catena Foundation. Author Contributions. Conceptualization, S.H.-L., K.S.K., and K.L.N.; Methodology, S.H.-L., K.S.K., and K.L.N.; Validation, S.H.-L., K.S.K., S.K.D.L., T.S.R., S.M.P., J.L.R., C.B., H.S., T.D.C., P.J.M., D.K.R., T.S., K.M., A.B. (Aaron Bivins), A.B. (Andrea Bruder), S.P., H.N.B., P.B., D.A.L., S.K., R.T.W., W.S., and S.P.S.; Formal Analysis, S.H.-L. and K.S.K.; Investigation, S.H.-L., K.S.K., K.L.N., S.K.D.L., T.S.R., S.M.P., J.L.R., C.B., H.S., T.D.C., P.J.M., D.K.R., T.S., K.M., A.B. (Aaron Bivins), A.B. (Andrea Bruder), S.P., H.N.B., P.B., D.A.L., S.K., R.T.W., W.S., and S.P.S.; Resources, K.S.K. and K.L.N.; Data Curation, S.H.-L., K.S.K., S.K.D.L., T.S.R., S.M.P., J.L.R., C.B., H.S., T.D.C., P.J.M., D.K.R., T.S., K.M., A.B. (Aaron Bivins), A.B. (Andrea Bruder), S.P., H.N.B., P.B., D.A.L., S.K., R.T.W., W.S., and S.P.S.; Writing—Original Draft Preparation, S.H.-L. and K.S.K.; Writing—Review and Editing, S.H.-L., K.S.K., S.K.D.L., T.S.R., S.M.P., J.L.R., C.B., H.S., T.D.C., P.J.M., D.K.R., T.S., K.M., A.B. (Aaron Bivins), A.B. (Andrea Bruder), S.P., H.N.B., P.B., D.A.L., S.K., R.T.W., W.S., and S.P.S.; Visualization, K.S.K.; Supervision, K.S.K. and K.L.N.; Project Administration, S.H.-L. and K.S.K.; Funding Acquisition, K.S.K. and K.L.N. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. Institutional Review Board Statement. The study was conducted according to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by the Institutional Review Boards of the University of California, Berkeley, CPHS protocol no. 2020-11-13796, approved 18 November 2020 and the University of Rochester, study ID STUDY00005616, approved 25 November 2020. Informed Consent Statement. All subjects gave their informed consent for inclusion in the study. Written participant consent was waived due to the determination of "exempt" status by the Institutional Review Boards at University of Rochester and the University of California Berkeley. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional details

Identifiers

PMCID
PMC8122720
Eprint ID
118348
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20221215-540206000.10

Related works

Describes
https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20221215-540238000.11 (URL)

Funding

NIH
P30 ES001247
Catena Foundation

Dates

Created
2022-12-17
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2022-12-17
Created from EPrint's last_modified field

Caltech Custom Metadata

Caltech groups
COVID-19