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Wastewater Testing

Wastewater Testing for Infectious Disease

Wastewater testing is a tool used to provide public health officials and the communities they serve with additional information about the spread of infectious illness. Wastewater testing can reveal illness before symptoms occur in ill individuals, giving communities an early warning.

Multiple wastewater utilities participate in wastewater surveillance in Douglas County and throughout Colorado. Test results can provide individuals with information to help them make timely decisions to protect themselves and their loved ones.

What is wastewater testing?

People with infections like influenza or RSV can shed pieces of virus or bacteria when they use the bathroom, shower, wash their hands, or do laundry, even if they don’t have symptoms. These pieces of virus or bacteria are washed down the toilet, sink, shower, or other drains through the sewage system. Wastewater samples are collected at the utility before the water is treated.

Laboratories test the wastewater samples to identify infections circulating in a community. This information is then reported to the public. Public health officials use wastewater data to get another picture of disease trends in a community. This information helps public health officials make recommendations on how to prevent infections such as increasing testing or offering vaccinations. Community members can use this information to make informed decisions about their health and the health of their loved ones.

Can individual sick people be identified through wastewater testing?

No. Wastewater surveillance cannot identify specific individuals who are sick. A wastewater detection shows that an ill person contributed to the wastewater, but that person could live, work, or have traveled through the collection area.

Can I learn how many people are infected in a community from wastewater results?

No. The total number of infected persons in a community or the percent of the population that is infected cannot be calculated from wastewater testing. Wastewater testing is most effectively used to determine trends over time at a single utility for the same test.

A negative wastewater detection, or a lack of identification, does not necessarily mean that no individuals in the community are sick.

What do high levels of virus in wastewater mean?

High levels in wastewater indicate that the virus or bacteria being tested for is circulating in the community where the water was collected. However, the person or people infected may live, work, or temporarily pass through that community.

These results, along with other public health data such as number of ill people diagnosed or hospitalized with the illness, can guide public health action and individual decisions.

How should I interpret wastewater test results?

Wastewater data should be used along with data on hospitalizations and clinical test results to understand how an illness is spreading in a community.

Wastewater results are best understood by looking at trends for the same utility tested at the same lab over time. Trends can indicated an increase, decrease, or stabilization of illness in the geographic area served by the wastewater utility.

Does Douglas County provide wastewater treatment services?

No. Residents of Douglas County contribute to wastewater treated at multiple utilities, including Castle Pines North Metropolitan District, Dominion Water & Sanitation District, Highlands Ranch Water, Louviers Water and Sanitation District, Meridian Metropolitan District, Parker Water and Sanitation District, Perry Park Water and Sanitation District, Southgate Water District, Southwest Metro WSD, and Stonegate Village Metropolitan District. View a map of  all Douglas County water providers.

Where can I view wastewater test results?

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) Wastewater Surveillance Program currently tests for 5 pathogens (COVID-19, Influenza, Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), Mpox, and Enterovirus D68) in wastewater. CDPHE test results are reported in an online dashboard.

WastewaterSCAN is based at Stanford University and operates in partnership with Emory University. WastewaterSCAN currently tests for 12 pathogens and reports results in an online dashboard.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS) program collects and displays wastewater data on COVID-19, Influenza A, RSV, and Mpox. Data from communities across the United States are shared in an online dashboard.