Wastewater testing to assess the spread of the coronavirus has become common and well-known during the pandemic, but it has been largely concentrated in urban areas.
The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) awarded Virginia Tech $400,000 and an additional $50,000 from the Virginia Department of Health. This award is for a two-year project to identify and implement improved new methods for detecting multiple disease pathogens in the Appalachian region. Wastewater in rural areas.
“My work and research is primarily focused on rural areas, and before the pandemic, most of my research was on drinking water and health-related issues,” said Associate Professor of Environmental Epidemiology in the School of Population Health Sciences. said Alasdair Cohen. at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine.
Cohen and Amanda Darling, a Ph.D. Led by Mr. Students in Cohen’s group.
Dr. Cohen conducts important research on drinking water and health locally and globally. During COVID-19, he jumped in to help develop improved methods of wastewater monitoring. This allows the university and the state of Virginia to better track and manage the disease. With funding from ARC, he and community partners will put this science to work in rural communities. ”
Laura Hungerford, Director of Population Health Sciences
Early in the pandemic, researchers at Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering began testing campus wastewater for COVID-19. Cohen was part of the team that led the statistical analysis of the data, which found that it was possible to predict future coronavirus cases at a scale about the size of a dormitory building. The research team published their results in the journal Environment Science and Technology Water, and this campus-wide research collaboration also sparked Cohen’s interest in using wastewater monitoring in rural environments.
He is joined on the ARC grant by two co-investigators from the Charles E. Via Jr. School of Engineering Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Amy Pruden, University Distinguished Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Dr. Peter Weiksland of the University. Nick Prillaman, professor of civil and environmental engineering, and Lee Ann Crometis, associate professor of biological systems engineering in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Alongside raising the grant, Cohen’s team recently published “Making waves: The benefits and challenges of responsibly implementing wastewater-based monitoring in rural areas,” in the journal Water Research. . This article draws attention to the potential public health benefits of wastewater monitoring in rural areas and the methodological and ethical challenges that Cohen and his colleagues are working to address.
“ARC’s $400,000 grant will help Virginia Tech expand its efforts to detect pathogens in wastewater from rural areas,” said U.S. Representative Morgan Griffiths in a press release announcing the grant. Stated. “This initiative aims to improve our nation’s public health through better community health surveillance and outbreak forecasting.”
The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) monitors wastewater at facilities across the commonwealth for pathogens that cause coronavirus disease (COVID-19), influenza A, influenza B, hepatitis A, and respiratory syncytial virus. I’m monitoring what’s going on. But the ministry found results for some small rural areas were difficult to interpret.
“This project is designed to complement VDH’s efforts to utilize wastewater-based surveillance to improve public health in rural Appalachian towns in Virginia,” said Rekha Singh, wastewater monitoring program manager for the agency. “There is,” he said. “VDH began wastewater surveillance for COVID-19 in communities across the state starting in September 2021. This new project will help identify best practices for sampling in small communities, and will help VDH We will help implement effective wastewater monitoring in similar communities.”
Cohen said infrastructure is often part of the challenge when testing rural wastewater.
“They have a smaller population, but they have more space, so they have more wastewater collection infrastructure per capita than in urban areas,” Cohen said. “Many rural towns, especially older rural towns, are going to end up with a lot of pipe breaks and cracks in their sewage collection infrastructure, which means sewage can spill into the ground, and water can get into the pipes. It means it’s possible.”
Runoff entering the sewage system can cloud the results of a rural sewage test, especially after a period of heavy rain. Additionally, sewage treatment plants treat rainwater along with wastewater, potentially resulting in tax dollars going down the drain.
“We have enough preliminary data from the pilot study to show that this could be an issue,” Cohen said.
The grant will allow Cohen’s team to work on wastewater monitoring in new communities in southwest Virginia, applying experience from previous studies to improve efficiency.
“The goal is to try to develop an approach that allows local utilities and public health agencies to determine whether wastewater monitoring makes sense for a particular local community,” Cohen said. Told. “If so, how is it best to implement it?”