4 ms·
I think it's really interesting that wastewater is a source of so much sheer information. I never knew before Covid that you could do public health surveillance
by decasia 2y ago
I think it's really interesting that wastewater is a source of so much sheer information. I never knew before Covid that you could do public health surveillance against wastewater contents. I wonder how local you can make it — like does the data collection and analysis have to be "per city" or can it be "per neighborhood".
- defrost 2y agoIt's been used in Australia for decades, for public health monitoring (various pathogens) and estimating drug use etc. It can be refined to "upstream of collection point" - what that means depends upon the wastewater sewerage map of the region in question, often estate developments will all pipe to a common outflow from that estate that then joins a larger wastepipe. How that plays out in any specific city will depend on the utility map.
- pkaye 2y agoI think it can be done per waste water treatment plant.
- onlypassingthru 2y agoIf the scientists are motivated enough, they can trace a virus all the way to your place of business. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-02996-y https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-02996-y
- captainkrtek 2y agoOne man’s trash is another man’s (data) treasure :-)
- meowster 2y agoHow long until the technology is cheap and small enough that municipalities sell access to the pipes out of each house, to data brokers? I imagine in most cities it's illegal already to have a septic system if there is public sewage available.
- netsharc 2y agoThere's an urban legend that if POTUS is travelling overseas, he craps in a portable toilet, so that enemy spies can't analyze his shit. But last time I looked there was only one website saying that this is the case. Nowadays I've read that Putin does this too, but I'm guessing that's an urban legend as well.