Key takeaways:
- Charlottetown could start testing for the virus in wastewater within weeks.
- Public health officials said information regarding sampling wastewater would be worked out in the coming weeks.
- Other jurisdictions with lower personal testing capacity have been testing wastewater for a while to estimate levels of the virus in the community.
Some neighborhoods on P.E.I. may soon be looking for details regarding COVID-19 in wastewater.
Some jurisdictions already sample wastewater to gather data on how the virus impacts their neighborhoods.
Officials with the City of Charlottetown’s water and sewer utility began talks with P.E.I.’s Chief Public Health Officer Monday regarding the case of wastewater monitoring for the virus.
P.E.I. has not had wastewater management till now because the region had a strict testing system for COVID-19.
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However, the testing volume has declined in recent weeks as the interest in relaxing pandemic actions.
Richard MacEwen, manager of Charlottetown’s water and sewer utility, stated the utility is keen to help.
“We collect samples every day for our work and monitoring. We also gather samples of our wastewater and make foolproof that we are reaching the level of treatment that we must,” MacEwen stated. “So it shouldn’t be too much better work for us to gather the samples and send them off to the lab.”
Public health officials said information regarding sampling procedures and protocols would be worked out in the coming weeks.
Source – cbc.ca
