COVID-19 in Wastewater May Be Serious Threat
The new paper, published in Nature Sustainability, by an international collaboration of 35 researchers, evaluates recent studies on coronaviruses in wastewater and previous airborne infectious diseases, including SARS and MERS. The goal is to evaluate potential threats, avenues of research and possible solutions, as well as garner beneficial perspectives for the future.
“There is ample reason to be concerned about how long coronaviruses survive in wastewater and how it impacts natural water sources,” says lead author Dr. Edo Bar-Zeev of the BGU Zuckerberg Institute. “Can wastewater contain enough coronaviruses to infect people? The simple truth is that we do not know enough and that needs to be rectified as soon as possible.”
Bar-Zeev, and his postdoc student, Anne Bogler, together with other renowned researchers, indicate that sewage leaking into natural watercourses might lead to infection via airborne spray. Similarly, treated wastewater used to fill recreational water facilities, like lakes and rivers, could also become sources of contagion. Lastly, fruits and vegetables irrigated with wastewater that were not properly disinfected could also be an indirect infection route.
The research team recommends immediate, new research to determine the level of potential infection, if any, and how long coronaviruses last in various bodies of water and spray.
“Wastewater treatment plants need to upgrade their treatment protocols and in the near future also advance toward tertiary treatment through micro- and ultra-filtration membranes, which successfully remove viruses,” Bar-Zeev and his colleagues say.
Three wastewater/sewage clarifiers at the Kailua Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant in Hawaii. The plant serves most of Kaneohe, Kailua, and MCBH. (Marine Corps Base Hawaii) This picture was taken near ʻAikahi community park with an unmanned aerial system / drone.
Credit: Roen Wainscoat / Wikimedia Commons
BGU researchers who participated in this study include: Prof. Amit Gross, Prof. Noam Weisbrod, Dr. Oded Nir, Prof. Osnat Gillor, Prof. Shai Arnon, Dr. Yakir Berchenko, Prof. Zeev Ronen, Prof. Ariel Kushmaro, Prof. Avner Ronen, and Prof. Jacob Moran-Gilad.
Additional researchers from the U.S. were from Yale University, Northwestern University, Drexel University, Temple University, Rice University, and the University of Notre Dame, Illinois. Other participants include researchers from University Limoges, France; Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany; University of Girona, Spain; University of Venice, Italy; ETH Zurich, Switzerland; University College Cork, Ireland; and Tianjin Polytechnic University, China.
Contacts and sources:
Andrew Lavin
Publication: Rethinking wastewater risks and monitoring in light of the COVID-19 pandemic Anne Bogler, Aaron Packman, […]Edo Bar-Zeev Nature Sustainability (2020) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-020-00605-2 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-00605-2
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