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. 2023 Nov-Dec;29(6):845-853.
doi: 10.1097/PHH.0000000000001783.

Ohio Coronavirus Wastewater Monitoring Network: Implementation of Statewide Monitoring for Protecting Public Health

Zuzana Bohrerova  1 , Nichole E Brinkman, Ritu Chakravarti, Saurabh Chattopadhyay, Seth A Faith, Jay Garland, James Herrin, Natalie Hull, Michael Jahne, Dae-Wook Kang, Scott P Keely, Jiyoung Lee, Stan Lemeshow, John Lenhart, Eva Lytmer, Devesh Malgave, Lin Miao, Angela Minard-Smith, Xiaozhen Mou, Maitreyi Nagarkar, Anda Quintero, Francesca D R Savona, John Senko, Joan L Slonczewski, Rachel R Spurbeck, Michael G Sovic, R Travis Taylor, Linda K Weavers, Mark Weir
Affiliations

Ohio Coronavirus Wastewater Monitoring Network: Implementation of Statewide Monitoring for Protecting Public Health

Zuzana Bohrerova et al. J Public Health Manag Pract. 2023 Nov-Dec.

Abstract

Context: Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, wastewater influent monitoring for tracking disease burden in sewered communities was not performed in Ohio, and this field was only on the periphery of the state academic research community.

Program: Because of the urgency of the pandemic and extensive state-level support for this new technology to detect levels of community infection to aid in public health response, the Ohio Water Resources Center established relationships and support of various stakeholders. This enabled Ohio to develop a statewide wastewater SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) monitoring network in 2 months starting in July 2020.

Implementation: The current Ohio Coronavirus Wastewater Monitoring Network (OCWMN) monitors more than 70 unique locations twice per week, and publicly available data are updated weekly on the public dashboard.

Evaluation: This article describes the process and decisions that were made during network initiation, the network progression, and data applications, which can inform ongoing and future pandemic response and wastewater monitoring.

Discussion: Overall, the OCWMN established wastewater monitoring infrastructure and provided a useful tool for public health professionals responding to the pandemic.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interests to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
The structure of the Ohio Coronavirus Wastewater Monitoring Network. Participating organizations included federal and state agencies (Ohio EPA, ODH, US EPA, Ohio WRC, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC]), academic institutions in Ohio (OSU, The University of Toledo [UT], The University of Akron [UA], Kent State University [KSU], Bowling Green State University [BGSU], Kenyon College, and Case Western Reserve University), a non-profit research institute (Battelle Memorial Institute) and commercial laboratories (LuminUltra and Microbac).
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Wastewater treatment facility locations participating in the Ohio Coronavirus Wastewater Monitoring Network as of May 2022. The lines indicate the county boundaries with their names in the State of Ohio. The gray circles indicate the relative size of the population served per site. The black colored pins are locations recruited between July – October 2020, the white pins indicate locations recruited after October 2020.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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