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The fate of SARS-COV-2 in WWTPS points out the sludge line as a suitable spot for detection of COVID-19 - PubMed

  • ️Fri Jan 01 2021

The fate of SARS-COV-2 in WWTPS points out the sludge line as a suitable spot for detection of COVID-19

Sabela Balboa et al. Sci Total Environ. 2021.

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 genetic material is detectable in the faeces of a considerable part of COVID-19 cases and hence, in municipal wastewater. This fact was confirmed early during the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and prompted several studies that proposed monitoring its incidence by wastewater. This paper studies the fate of SARS-CoV-2 genetic material in wastewater treatment plants using RT-qPCR with a two-fold goal: i) to check its presence in the water effluent and in the produced sludge and ii) based on the understanding of the virus particles fate, to identify the most suitable spots for detecting the incidence of COVID-19 and monitor its evolution. On the grounds of the affinity of enveloped virus towards biosolids, we hypothesized that the sludge line acts as a concentrator of SARS-CoV-2 genetic material. Sampling several spots in primary, secondary and sludge treatment at the Ourense (Spain) WWTP in 5 different days showed that, in effect, most of SARS-CoV-2 particles cannot be detected in the water effluent as they are retained by the sludge line. We identified the sludge thickener as a suitable spot for detecting SARS-CoV-2 particles thanks to its higher solids concentration (more virus particles) and longer residence time (less sensitive to dilution caused by precipitation). These findings could be useful to develop a suitable strategy for early warning of COVID-19 incidence based on WWTP monitoring.

Keywords: Covid-19; Incidence monitoring; SARS-CoV-2; Sludge; Wastewater; Wastewater treatment plant.

Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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Graphical abstract
Fig. 1
Fig. 1

Simplified description of Ourense WWTP layout and sampling points (circled numbers corresponding to Table 2 labels) in the water and sludge line. Measured flowrates (in m3/d) during a representative dry weather period (here taken as 21st April) are shown next to the corresponding streams and nominal residence times are next to the corresponding unit.

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