Watching wastewater

March 29, 2024

Watching wastewater

The U is monitoring samples of municipal wastewater for signs of COVID-19 in a joint project started by the School of Medicine and the College of Engineering. Jennifer Weidhass, assistant professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Jim Vanderslice, associate professor in Family & Preventive Medicine, lead the study to track the presence of the virus in sewage so that local health officials can recommend behavior changes—masking and social distancing—to slow the spread of COVID-19. After an initial pilot program, the state is funding a large-scale study of more than 40 facilities in Utah, covering about 80 percent of the population, in partnership with BYU, Utah State University, Utah Department of Environmental Quality, and the Utah Department of Health.

Find current data online.