| | | A sewer cover in Miami, Florida. Photo courtesy of Flickr/Creative Commons user ryaninc |
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| Health departments and researchers in hundreds of cities worldwide are turning to sewage to better understand the spread of the new coronavirus in their communities.
Advocates for sewage surveillance hope that data gleaned from the sewers could serve as an early-warning system for outbreaks — a system that would ring alarms about community spread of the virus well before cities reached the crisis situations that emerged in February and March.
In places like the United States where testing of residents has lagged, a central sampling point has the added appeal of simplicity, compared to the rigors of clinical testing. Why jab thousands of people per day with nasal swabs if sewage holds the same answers? |
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The volume of Covid-19 news can be overwhelming. We've started a live blog, updated throughout the day, to help you sort through it. It's a library for how water, sanitation, and hygiene connect to the pandemic, both in the US and globally.
Featured Covid-19 + water coverage from this week include: Pandemic Puts Local Climate Investments at Risk New Jersey Cities Get Extension for Filing Sewage Control Plans |
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Israel thwarted a major cyberattack on its water systems last month, the country’s national cyber chief Yigal Unna confirmed last week. The attack, which occurred in April, would have allowed chlorine and other chemicals to mix into the country’s water supplies in unsafe proportions. |
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What's Up With Water - June 1, 2020
For the news you need to start the week, tune into “What’s Up With Water” fresh on Monday’s on iTunes, Spotify, iHeart Radio, and SoundCloud.
This week's episode features coverage on Israel, where the country’s head of cybersecurity has confirmed that the country thwarted a major cyberattack last month.
Additional international reporting looks at Argentina, where parched rivers are affecting trade. And how around the world, handwashing is seen as a frontline defense against the novel coronavirus.
Finally, this week's featured Circle of Blue story reports on how the global coronavirus pandemic is doubly disastrous to water utilities abroad. You can listen to the latest edition of What's Up With Water, as well as all past editions, by downloading the podcasts on iTunes, following Circle of Blue on Spotify, following on iHeart Radio, and subscribing on SoundCloud. |
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| From Circle of Blue's Archives: |
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| | | An electron microscope image of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Photo NIAID-RML |
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| Even before it was confirmed by medical tests of infected individuals, the story of the new coronavirus in the city of Amersfoort was being recorded in water.
Scientists from KWR Water Research Institute in the Netherlands detected genetic traces of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in wastewater samples from Amersfoort’s sewage treatment plant on March 5, a day before the first confirmed case of Covid-19 in the city. Covid-19 is the disease caused by the virus.
That discovery, the researchers say, means that urban sewage systems could function as “a sensitive tool” for monitoring the spread of the virus thorough a city before it is detected in individuals. |
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