Moving forward with COVID-19: Future research prospects of wastewater-based epidemiology methodologies and applications

Guangming Jiang^{1

2}, Yanchen Liu³, Song Tang⁴, Masaaki Kitajima⁵, Eiji Haramoto⁶, Sudipti Arora⁷, Phil M Choi⁸, Greg Jackson⁸, Patrick M D'Aoust⁹, Robert Delatolla⁹, Shuxin Zhang¹, Ying Guo¹, Jiangping Wu¹, Yan Chen¹, Elipsha Sharma¹, Tanjila Alam Prosun¹, Jiawei Zhao¹, Manish Kumar^{10

11}, Ryo Honda¹², Warish Ahmed¹³, Jon Meiman¹⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia.
² Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia.
³ State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
⁴ China CDC Key Laboratory of Environment and Population Health, National Institute of Environmental Health (NIEH), Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC), Chaoyang District, Beijing 100021, China.
⁵ Division of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, North 13 West 8, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8628, Japan.
⁶ Interdisciplinary Center for River Basin Environment, University of Yamanashi, 4-3-11 Takeda, Kofu, Yamanashi 400-8511, Japan.
⁷ Dr. B. Lal Institute of Biotechnology, 6-E, Malviya Industrial Area, Malviya Nagar, Jaipur, 302017, India.
⁸ Water Unit, Health Protection Branch, Queensland Public Health and Scientific Services, Queensland Health, Australia.
⁹ Department of Civil Engineering, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
¹⁰ Sustainability Cluster, School of Engineering, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India.
¹¹ Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Campus Monterey, Monterrey, 64849, Nuevo Leon, Mexico.
¹² Faculty of Geosciences and Civil Engineering, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan.
¹³ CSIRO Environment, Ecosciences Precinct, 41 Boggo Road, Dutton Park, QLD 4102, Australia.
¹⁴ Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Madison, WI 53701, USA.

PMID: 37034453
PMCID: PMC10065412
DOI: 10.1016/j.coesh.2023.100458

Review

Moving forward with COVID-19: Future research prospects of wastewater-based epidemiology methodologies and applications

Guangming Jiang et al. Curr Opin Environ Sci Health. 2023 Jun.

. 2023 Jun:33:100458.

doi: 10.1016/j.coesh.2023.100458. Epub 2023 Mar 7.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ School of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia.
² Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia.
³ State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
⁴ China CDC Key Laboratory of Environment and Population Health, National Institute of Environmental Health (NIEH), Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC), Chaoyang District, Beijing 100021, China.
⁵ Division of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, North 13 West 8, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8628, Japan.
⁶ Interdisciplinary Center for River Basin Environment, University of Yamanashi, 4-3-11 Takeda, Kofu, Yamanashi 400-8511, Japan.
⁷ Dr. B. Lal Institute of Biotechnology, 6-E, Malviya Industrial Area, Malviya Nagar, Jaipur, 302017, India.
⁸ Water Unit, Health Protection Branch, Queensland Public Health and Scientific Services, Queensland Health, Australia.
⁹ Department of Civil Engineering, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
¹⁰ Sustainability Cluster, School of Engineering, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India.
¹¹ Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Campus Monterey, Monterrey, 64849, Nuevo Leon, Mexico.
¹² Faculty of Geosciences and Civil Engineering, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan.
¹³ CSIRO Environment, Ecosciences Precinct, 41 Boggo Road, Dutton Park, QLD 4102, Australia.
¹⁴ Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Madison, WI 53701, USA.

PMID: 37034453
PMCID: PMC10065412
DOI: 10.1016/j.coesh.2023.100458

Abstract

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has been demonstrated for its great potential in tracking of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) transmission among populations despite some inherent methodological limitations. These include non-optimized sampling approaches and analytical methods; stability of viruses in sewer systems; partitioning/retention in biofilms; and the singular and inaccurate back-calculation step to predict the number of infected individuals in the community. Future research is expected to (1) standardize best practices in wastewater sampling, analysis and data reporting protocols for the sensitive and reproducible detection of viruses in wastewater; (2) understand the in-sewer viral stability and partitioning under the impacts of dynamic wastewater flow, properties, chemicals, biofilms and sediments; and (3) achieve smart wastewater surveillance with artificial intelligence and big data models. Further specific research is essential in the monitoring of other viral pathogens with pandemic potential and subcatchment applications to maximize the benefits of WBE beyond COVID-19.

Keywords: Artificial intelligence; COVID-19; Influenza; SARS-CoV-2; Sewer; Wastewater-based epidemiology.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Guangming Jiang reports financial support was provided by Australian Research Council. Yanchen Liu reports financial support was provided by National Natural Science Foundation of China. Yanchen Liu reports financial support was provided by Tsinghua University. Guangming Jiang reports financial support was provided by Australian Academy of Science.

Figures

**Figure 1**
Workflow and methodological uncertainties for wastewater-based epidemiology of viral infectious diseases [17].

**Figure 2**
In-sewer factors (black font) and processes (red font, underlined) affecting the stability and partitioning of viral biomarkers in wastewater. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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Moving forward with COVID-19: Future research prospects of wastewater-based epidemiology methodologies and applications

Affiliations

Moving forward with COVID-19: Future research prospects of wastewater-based epidemiology methodologies and applications

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Miscellaneous