Wastewater for Health

How can the world’s most vulnerable and remote communities use wastewater to improve public health?

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) or wastewater monitoring has proven an invaluable tool in the fight against COVID-19. It has served as an early warning system for disease outbreak and helped track the spread of the infection across a population. Beyond coronavirus, it can also help identify health trends and inequalities between communities, provide insights for other infectious diseases, pharmaceutical consumption, and antimicrobial resistance, as well as monitor environmental pollution.

The ‘Wastewater for Health’ report is a guide to support the setup of wastewater monitoring programmes in low-resource settings, with varying degrees of sewerage infrastructure. Arup has worked with subject matter experts from Newcastle University, Bangor University and University of Bath, and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) professionals to develop this report.