“Monitoring for disease agents in our wastewater influent is a new way for us to continue to help protect public health and the environment.”
— George Sprouse, manager of Process Engineering, Research and Development, and Air Quality
Research scientists at our Metro Plant in 2021 continued to monitor levels of the SARS-CoV-2 viral material entering the plant in wastewater. Viral load in sewage has emerged as an important indicator of the prevalence of COVID-19 in the population served by our wastewater system, often before community testing shows the same trends. MCES partners with the University of Minnesota Genomics Center on the research. We also provided wastewater samples to several state and national studies.
“Our research increases our capacity to respond to future outbreaks of infectious diseases and our ability to improve upon our monitoring processes,” said George Sprouse, manager of Process Engineering, Research and Development, and Air Quality. “Monitoring for disease agents in our wastewater influent is a new way for us to continue to help protect public health and the environment.”