Grant: Alliance Grants

Wastewater testing for biological and chemical analytes sampled from aggregate collection points in sewersheds has immense potential for providing inclusive, rapid and actionable information on public health. This transdisciplinary approach combines biology, chemistry, engineering, epidemiology and other fields, and since 2020 has been widely showcased for monitoring community trends in COVID-19. In Alberta, our collaborative team of university researchers supported by provincial public health officials has led efforts to measure these trends and publicly report the results online in real-time for the public and key stakeholders including Alberta Health (this project's co-funder). While our efforts in Alberta have been successful to date, SARS-CoV-2 is only the tip of the iceberg. In this project, a range of new targets will be pursued including other viruses, various bacteria and a range of chemicals. This expanded wastewater testing program will be able to respond to threats such as the H5N1 "bird flu" virus (using RNA genomic analysis), bacterial pathogens and antimicrobial resistance genes (using DNA genomic analysis), and harmful opioids and other drugs (using mass spectrometry for chemical compounds). Overall 13 new tools will be developed using wastewater samples from a range of scales including city-wide wastewater treatment plants, specific urban neighbourhoods, individual buildings including hospitals and shelters, and three Alberta First Nations communities. Additional sampling in agricultural contexts will extend this platform using a One Health approach by testing animal-related wastewater samples to understand human-animal-environment links. This will incorporate pathogens with zoonotic potential and chemicals like antibiotics used in both human and animal contexts. A variety of end users will be engaged as project partners, led by the province. In the same way that our team transferred SARS-CoV-2 monitoring to Alberta Health (provincial public lab) in 2023, this project will develop and transfer new tools for incorporation into routine public health testing.