Words On Water #219: Autosamplers Available For Wastewater Surveillance

May 16, 2022

Anna Mehrotra is the Director of the Wastewater Surveillance Program for the Water Environment Federation (WEF). In this episode, Anna and Carley Truyens, Public Health Associate at WEF, explain how WEF is inviting applications from small utilities interested in receiving free automatic wastewater samplers to help expand participation in wastewater surveillance programs. They discuss the use of autosamplers with Aaron Anson of Hach and Kaushal Trivedi of Teledyne ISCO, who were selected through a competitive Request for Proposal process to supply autosamplers as part of this program. Visit this page to learn more about the program and how to apply.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Words On Water #205: Omicron’s Impact on Wastewater Utility Management

January 18, 2022

The emergence of the omicron variant presents unique challenges for wastewater utility managers related to staffing shortages and concerns about increased transmissibility of the virus. Yet omicron also highlights the continued value of wastewater-based disease surveillance due to the early detection of the variant in wastewater relative to clinical data. This podcast presents the latest information on omicron and wastewater. The guests are Dr. Andrew Sanderson, WEF Chief Medical Officer, and Amy Kirby, the CDC’s National Wastewater Surveillance System Lead.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Words On Water #183: Amy Kirby and Dr. Andrew Sanderson on Expansion of Wastewater-Based Disease Surveillance

April 15, 2021

Amy Kirby is the National Wastewater Surveillance System Lead for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Dr. Andrew Sanderson is the Chief Medical Officer for the Water Environment Federation (WEF). In this episode they discuss how CDC has selected WEF to develop, manage, and provide training for a nationwide network of water utilities, public health agencies, and laboratories participating in wastewater-based disease surveillance. Andrew and Amy explain that wastewater-based disease surveillance has been used to study the presence and trends in coronavirus infections in communities and is increasingly viewed as a valuable tool during the current pandemic and for future public health research.

Episode #183
Hosted by Travis Loop

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Words On Water #171: Impact of Coronavirus Relief Package on Water Sector

January 5, 2020

Steve Dye is Legislative Affairs Director for the Water Environment Federation and Jason Myers is a Partner with Barnes & Thornburg. In this episode Steve discusses how the recent coronavirus relief package passed by Congress impacts the water sector, including the $638 million it provides for a new program that will help low-income families cover the costs of their drinking water and wastewater utility bills, as well as $25 billion in rental assistance that can also be used to help offset utility payments. Jason talks about $275 billion for another round of Paycheck Protection Program funding and the extension of the deadline for using funding from the CARES Act. Steve also reviews the FY21 Omnibus Appropriations package that includes a myriad of key funding provisions for the Clean Water SRF, Drinking Water SRF, WIFIA, and stormwater and workforce programs.

Episode #171
Hosted by Travis Loop

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Words On Water #138: Studying Coronavirus with Wastewater Epidemiology

April 27, 2020

This podcast introduces wastewater epidemiology and explains what information related to the detection of RNA of COVID-19 virus in wastewater does and does not tell us. Wastewater epidemiology has been used for decades to track the presence of infectious diseases such as polio in communities. It has also been used to aid in the response to the opioid epidemic. Now it has gained a role in guiding state and local public health responses to COVID-19 outbreaks. This episode is the audio from a webcast moderated by Dr. Kyle Bibby (University of Notre Dame) with several speakers including Dr. Mariana Matus (Biobot), Dr. Amy Kirby (CDC), and Dr. Jennifer Murphy (CDC).

Episode #138

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS