Analysis of sampling strategies for pulse loads of SARS-CoV-2: implications for wastewater-based epidemiology
A faecal transport model was applied to a 11.3 km2 wastewater servicing area in Toronto, Ontario, Canada to explore the role that different wastewater sampling campaigns have on estimating the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in a population of 60,000. A stochastic wastewater and water quality model was use...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IWA Publishing
2023-08-01
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| Series: | Water Science and Technology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://wst.iwaponline.com/content/88/4/1039 |
| Summary: | A faecal transport model was applied to a 11.3 km2 wastewater servicing area in Toronto, Ontario, Canada to explore the role that different wastewater sampling campaigns have on estimating the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in a population of 60,000. A stochastic wastewater and water quality model was used to evaluate the effectiveness of 11 sampling campaigns during periods of high and low COVID-19 infection among the population, tested using virtual sampling during dry-weather flow. The virtual sampling campaigns were based on the most common automatic sampler programming capabilities and widely used wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) sampling campaigns reported in the literature. Sampling campaigns differ in weighting method (time, volume, or flow-weighted sampling), sample count, collection period, or sample time. Results suggest that grab samples should be avoided and/or that sampling campaigns with the greatest sample counts and durations are the most robust at capturing COVID-19 infection among the population. Most surprisingly, changes to the weighting method were negligible indicating that a greater number of samples, and larger sample volumes are preferred. This work suggests that investment in flow monitoring equipment for flow- or volume-weighted sampling will not improve WBE results, and that standard time based sampling is sufficient.
HIGHLIGHTS
Wastewater-based epidemiology campaigns should avoid grab sampling and opt for more robust composite sampling approaches.;
Wastewater-based epidemiology campaigns should focus on increasing the sampled time or sample volume compared to implementing flow or time-based weighting methods.;
Practitioners should focus on improving the power supply to automatic samplers to increase capacity.; |
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| ISSN: | 0273-1223 1996-9732 |