Monitoring wastewater for COVID-19
UCalgary researchers are working with community partners to detect traces of SARS-CoV-2 in Calgary's wastewater
A faster way to detect clusters of COVID-19 infection in the population is critical to avoiding future outbreaks — and what’s going down your drain could help public health officials catch outbreaks sooner.
UCalgary researchers from the Cumming School of Medicine, Faculty of Science, and Schulich School of Engineering; Advancing Canadian Water Assets (ACWA), The City of Calgary, and Alberta Health Services (AHS) teamed up to test Calgary wastewater for early signs of COVID-19 cases.
As of July 1st, 2023, the Alberta COVID-19 wastewater monitoring program has been transitioned from the University of Calgary and University of Alberta to Alberta Health (AH) and Alberta Precision Laboratories (APL). The CHI Tracker will continue to be a resource for Albertans, as we will share the COVID-19 wastewater monitoring data generated by AH and APL.
Team Leads
- Dr. Michael Parkins, MD (Cumming School of Medicine)
- Dr. Casey Hubert, PhD (Faculty of Science)
- Kevin Frankowski (ACWA)
University of Calgary
- Alex Buchner Beaudet (Cumming School of Medicine)
- Alexander Krusina (Centre for Health Informatics, Cumming School of Medicine)
- Andra Bacanu (Faculty of Science)
- Barbara Waddell (Cumming School of Medicine)
- Carmen Li (Faculty of Science)
- Dr. Cathy Ryan, PhD (Faculty of Science)
- Chloe Papparis (Faculty of Science)
- Danielle Southern (Centre for Health Informatics, Cumming School of Medicine)
- Dr. Gopal Achari, PhD (Schulich School of Engineering)
- Janine McCalder (Faculty of Science)
- Dr. Jianwei Chen, PhD (Faculty of Science)
- Dr. Jon Meddings, MD (Cumming School of Medicine)
- Dr. Jordan Hollman, PhD (Schulich School of Engineering)
- Lawrence Man (Cumming School of Medicine)
- Dr. María Bautista. PhD (Faculty of Science)
- Navid Sedaghat (Faculty of Science)
- Dr. Nicole Acosta, PhD (Cumming School of Medicine)
- Puja Pradhan (Faculty of Science)
- Dr. Rhonda Clark, PhD (Faculty of Science)
- Dr. Srijak Bhatnagar, PhD (Faculty of Science)
- Dr. Tyler Williamson, PhD (Centre for Health Informatics, Cumming School of Medicine)
ACWA
- Dr. Darina Kuzma, PhD
Alberta Health Services
- Dr. Jason Cabaj, MD
- Dr. Jia Hu, MD
- Dr. John Conly, MD
C.E.C. Analytics
- Dr. Paul Westlund, PhD
City of Calgary
- Dr.Norma Ruecker, PhD et. al
- Advancing Canadian Wastewater Assets (ACWA)
- Alberta Health Services
- Alberta Innovates
- Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI)
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
- Canadian Water Network
- C.E.C. Analytics
- The City of Calgary
- Geomicrobiology Group (Casey Hubert)
- Parkins Lab
Water Research, Volume 201, 2021
117369, ISSN 0043-1354,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2021.117369
"A multicenter study investigating SARS-CoV-2 in tertiary-care hospital wastewater. Viral burden correlates with increasing hospitalized cases as well as hospital-associated transmissions and outbreaks"
Nicole Acosta, María A. Bautista, Jordan Hollman, Janine McCalder, Alexander Buchner Beaudet, Lawrence Man, Barbara J. Waddell, Jianwei Chen, Carmen Li, Darina Kuzma, Srijak Bhatnagar, Jenine Leal, Jon Meddings, Jia Hu, Jason L. Cabaj, Norma J. Ruecker, Christopher Naugler, Dylan R. Pillai, Gopal Achari, M. Cathryn Ryan, John M. Conly, Kevin Frankowski, Casey RJ Hubert, Michael D. Parkins
Pan-Alberta Wastewater Monitoring
University of Calgary and University of Alberta team up to track evidence of COVID-19 in wastewater of 3.2M people across Alberta
View real-time COVID-19 data
See how wastewater sampling is being used to track current COVID-19 case counts in your area on the Centre for Health Informatics (CHI) COVID-19 Tracker.
What is Wastewater-based Epidemiology (WBE)?
Wastewater-based Epidemiology (WBE) is the process of analyzing wastewater to measure levels of selected substances. It is a method of monitoring for pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, or other substances of concern.
How is WBE helping us manage COVID-19?
Wastewater data captures all COVID-19 cases in a defined population, including symptomatic and asymptomatic cases.
The data shows that high levels of traces of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater are followed by a rise in clinically diagnosed cases, which suggests that this technology can be used as an early warning system. Alberta Heath Services is looking at the data as an additional tool to understand how COVID-19 is spreading in the community.
In the news
The COVID-19 wasteland: searching for clues in the sewers
Using municipal waste water to look for evidence of the virus behind COVID-19 is part of a rapidly expanding body of science. The virus is shed in human waste, often before a patient even knows they are sick.
Calgary wastewater samples show recent spike in coronavirus
The data shows levels of the virus trending upward, and sample points higher than the previous highs seen in mid-December, when Calgary was in its second wave
Experts identify rise of COVID-19 in Calgary wastewater
Experts have been studying wastewater data for levels of the virus, and they’re seeing higher levels than ever before
New website lets Calgarians track traces of COVID-19
A new website that tracks traces of COVID-19 found in Calgary’s wastewater is now up and running and available to the public
UCalgary News
Alberta’s largest research universities team up to track evidence of COVID-19 in wastewater of 3.2M people across Alberta
Funding provided by Government of Alberta supports provincial monitoring network and online tracker tool
Research proves that testing hospital wastewater for COVID-19 can help catch localized outbreaks faster
Wastewater monitoring has potential to revolutionize how we track public health
Calgarians can now track traces of COVID-19 in their wastewater
Data available to public thanks to UCalgary, City of Calgary, and Alberta Health Services partnership
Listening, learning and sharing are key to successful COVID-19 wastewater project
Award-winning interdisciplinary team tracks local COVID cases one manhole at a time
UCalgary, The City of Calgary and AHS team up in the fight against COVID-19
Wastewater samples will help identify local outbreaks, fast
Federal government announces funding for COVID-19 research projects
Exceptional Opportunities Fund invests in research infrastructure for 3 UCalgary projects
Announcing UCalgary’s Peak Scholars in COVID-19 Innovation Excellence
Scholars recognized for their commitment to entrepreneurialism and innovation