Canadian Water Network (CWN) is spearheading a national collaboration of researchers, public health organizations and governments with the shared goal of advancing Canada’s ability to support decision-making for public health protection and surveillance in the face of COVID-19. As economic and social restrictions are eased following the initial wave of COVID-19 cases, the CWN-led COVID-19 Wastewater Coalition is focused on advancing the knowledge and approaches needed to help monitor disease trends in communities and provide early detection of virus resurgence. This will enable more informed, targeted and localized public health responses to limit the scope of future impacts (see research framework below).
Given the urgency of the need and the rapid evolution of the global research, the COVID-19 Wastewater Coalition is advancing a national proof-of-concept pilot for wastewater-based surveillance of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The goals of this pilot are to: 1) rapidly assess the ability for this technique to be usefully applied in Canada and 2) identify the key elements of the approach that would need to be built into a national surveillance program. CWN has appointed a National Research Advisory Group, chaired by Steve E. Hrudey, Professor Emeritus from the University of Alberta, to oversee design of this program. Mark Servos, Water Institute member and Professor of Biology at the University of Waterloo, is also a member of the advisory group.
“Implementing and maintaining a comprehensive surveillance system with the ability to quickly detect ‘hotspots’ is key for a country as large and diffuse as Canada. Wastewater-based epidemiology provides a cost-effective complement to clinical systems”. Bernadette Conant, Chief Executive Officer, Canada Water Network
Wastewater-based epidemiology has been used for several years to identify and quantify the presence of drugs or disease agents in communities. Globally, emerging research suggests it could provide a useful indicator of community-based COVID-19. Wastewater-based epidemiology detects the genetic signature that signals the presence of COVID-19 within the community served by the sewer system. That composite community signature includes asymptomatic or sub-clinical cases, providing the potential to reflect the total presence of COVID-19. Results could augment clinical surveillance and potentially serve as an early warning for new waves of the disease.
Sign on to the Canadian Coalition on Wastewater-related COVID-19 Research here.