Clear Background from the CDC on the National Wastewater Surveillance System

Here is the type of information local elected officials and decision-makers will need to help them understand COVID-19 Wastewater Surveillance, and that provides guidance on stakeholders needed to cooperate on the effort.

Excerpt with a link to a webinar recording:

How do I become engaged in NWSS?

Using wastewater surveillance for public health action requires a multidisciplinary approach. Communities interested in conducting wastewater surveillance for COVID-19 should identify the necessary local partners for sample collection, testing, and public health action.

Local partners should include:

• State, local, tribal, and territorial health departments – COVID-19 epidemiologists, environmental health epidemiologists, and laboratory scientists.
• Wastewater treatment plants, workers, and worker representatives (e.g., unions).
• Laboratories – public health, environmental, academic, and/or private (Note: CDC is not currently accepting sewage samples for testing.)

National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS) is currently ramping-up efforts through partnerships with state, local, tribal, and territorial health departments. Additional information, including sampling, testing, and interpretation guidance, minimum reporting requirements, and instructions for reporting through the data portal will be updated on this page as they become available.

For a further overview of the topic, a recording of a CDC COVID-19 Sewage Surveillance webinar presented to the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists on July 8, 2020, can be found here.