Wastewater Surveillance in Nevada

Wastewater (or sewage) can consist of used water from homes, buildings, and businesses. It comes from toilets, sinks, showers, kitchens, laundry, and more. Facilities such as restaurants, schools, offices, and other businesses also produce wastewater. This water travels through pipes, drains, sewers, and manholes to a wastewater treatment plant, where it is treated to protect public health and the environment.

People with certain infections can shed small amounts of pathogens when they use the bathroom, shower, wash hands, or do laundry, even if they don’t have symptoms. These traces travel through the drain system to a wastewater treatment plant. Animals can also shed certain pathogens into water that makes its way to wastewater treatment plants. Before the wastewater is treated, utility operators collect samples and send them to laboratories for testing. The laboratories submit their results to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS). The Nevada Office of State Epidemiology (OSE) retrieves these results from NWSS and shares them with local health authorities to support their surveillance efforts, as well as with the public via a dashboard. Results are usually available within 5 to 7 days of sample collection, allowing wastewater surveillance to act as an early warning tool for changes in community health. 

Resources: 

• https://www.cdc.gov/nwss/how-wws-works.html 
• https://www.cdc.gov/nwss/pdf/Wastewater-COVID-infographic-h.pdf 

Public health officials use wastewater data alongside other disease surveillance sources, such as hospital visits and clinical testing results, to better understand disease trends within a community. When public health officials know which pathogens are present, they can make informed decisions to implement procedures to reduce the spread of disease, like providing guidance to affected communities or the general public on important prevention measures. Health officials can also respond more effectively by working with providers to increase community testing or offer additional vaccination options when needed. Wastewater trends help keep the public aware of what pathogens may be circulating so individuals can make informed decisions based on their own health needs.

Several partners work together to support wastewater surveillance in Nevada. Key groups include: 

• Local wastewater utilities that collect and submit samples for testing. 
• Laboratories that test wastewater for pathogens and report results to the CDC National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS).
• The Nevada Office of State Epidemiology (OSE), which retrieves data from NWSS and reviews results.
  • https://nvose.org 

• Local health authorities, including 
  • Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD) 
    • https://www.southernnevadahealthdistrict.org
  • Northern Nevada Public Health (NNPH)  
    • https://www.nnph.org 
  • Carson City Health and Human Services (CCHHS)  
    • https://www.gethealthycarsoncity.org 
  • Central Nevada Health District (CHND)  
    • https://www.centralnevadahd.org 

• University and research partners that contribute scientific expertise or technical support when needed and explore innovative uses of wastewater data. 

These partners each play an important role. Without their combined efforts, wastewater surveillance in Nevada would not be possible. 

Nevada’s wastewater surveillance program brings together data from several partners. Each partner conducts different types of testing. Together, these data provide a broader view of pathogens that may be circulating in communities in Nevada. 

Data sources used by the Nevada wastewater surveillance program include:  

• CDC NWSS: Data collected from samples collected at participating wastewater treatment plants across the U.S. that are tested under CDC’s national wastewater testing contract (currently with Verily Life Sciences, LLC).  
  • https://www.cdc.gov/wastewater/about/index.html 

• WastewaterSCAN: A collaborative project between Stanford University, Emory University, and Verily, funded philanthropically through a gift to Standford University.  
  • https://www.wastewaterscan.org/en 

• Nevada State Public Health Laboratory (NSPHL): Data collected from samples that are processed and tested by NSPHL. Currently testing for Covid-19. 
  • https://www.unr.edu/nevada-state-public-health-laboratory 

For a current list of pathogens monitored from these data sources, please click the associated link to their dashboards. 

• CDC NWSS Contract: 
  • Dashboard 

• WastewaterSCAN: 
  • Dashboard  

OSE maintains Nevada’s statewide wastewater dashboard, which consolidates data from CDC NWSS, WastewaterSCAN, and the state public health laboratory. Dashboard values are updated weekly. 

If you have any questions for our Office of State Epidemiology Wastewater Team, please email stateepi@health.nv.gov.