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. 2021 Jan 21;767:145124. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145124

Table 1.

Recent wastewater surveillance studies that indicate the potential of COVID-19 early warning via WBE.

Region Sample type Primary concentration method Sampling period Population size in the WWTP catchment area Major findings related to early warning potential Reference
Murcia, Spain Grab raw sewage Al(OH)3 adsorption-precipitation 2020/03/12–2020/04/14 Multiple, from ~28,000 to ~530,000 Wastewater samples from three WWTPs were tested positive 12–16 days before COVID-19 cases were reported in the respective catchment regions (Randazzo et al., 2020)
Amersfoort, The Netherlands Composite raw sewage Ultrafiltration 2020/02/05–2020/03/25 ~234,000 Sewage signaled virus circulation 6 days before the first cases were reported (Medema et al., 2020b)
Milan, Italy Composite raw sewage PEG/dextran precipitation 2020/02/03–2020/04/02 ~1,050,000 Samples were tested positive when the COVID-19 infections were very limited (29 in a larger area) (La Rosa et al., 2020b)
Ishikawa, Japan Grab raw sewage PEG precipitation 2020/03/05–2020/04/21 Multiple, from ~31,000 to ~233,000 Samples were tested positive when the prevalence was lower than one confirmed case per 100,000 people (Hata et al., 2020)
Bozeman, MT, USA Composite raw sewage Ultrafiltration 2020/03/30–2020/06/12 ~50,000 SARS-CoV-2 RNA levels in wastewater precede clinical PCR test results by 2–4 days (Nemudryi et al., 2020)
New Haven, CT, USA Primary sewage sludge \ 2020/03/19–2020/06/01 ~200,000 SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentrations in sludge predate hospital admissions by 1–4 days (Peccia et al., 2020)