Rethinking wastewater risks and monitoring in light of the COVID-19 pandemic

Anne Bogler, Aaron Packman, Alex Furman, Amit Gross, Ariel Kushmaro, Avner Ronen, Christophe Dagot, Colin Hill, Dalit Vaizel-Ohayon, Eberhard Morgenroth, Enrico Bertuzzo, George Wells, Hadas Raanan Kiperwas, Harald Horn, Ido Negev, Ines Zucker, Itay Bar-Or, Jacob Moran-Gilad, Jose Luis Balcazar, Kyle BibbyMenachem Elimelech, Noam Weisbrod, Oded Nir, Oded Sued, Osnat Gillor, Pedro J. Alvarez, Sandra Crameri, Shai Arnon, Sharon Walker, Sima Yaron, Thanh H. Nguyen, Yakir Berchenko, Yunxia Hu, Zeev Ronen, Edo Bar-Zeev

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

221 Scopus citations

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted public health and the worldwide economy. Converging evidence from the current pandemic, previous outbreaks and controlled experiments indicates that SARS-CoVs are present in wastewater for several days, leading to potential health risks via waterborne and aerosolized wastewater pathways. Conventional wastewater treatment provides only partial removal of SARS-CoVs, thus safe disposal or reuse will depend on the efficacy of final disinfection. This underscores the need for a risk assessment and management framework tailored to SARS-CoV-2 transmission via wastewater, including new tools for environmental surveillance, ensuring adequate disinfection as a component of overall COVID-19 pandemic containment.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)981-990
Number of pages10
JournalNature Sustainability
Volume3
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Dec 2020

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Global and Planetary Change
  • Food Science
  • Geography, Planning and Development
  • Ecology
  • Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
  • Urban Studies
  • Nature and Landscape Conservation
  • Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

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