Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater (review)

Summary

The COVID-19 pandemic, declared by WHO as a health emergency, is caused by a novel SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. According to reports from the European Union, the United States and Australia, the potential survival of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus in feces and wastewater for a sufficiently long time creates a real threat of its entry with wastewater into treatment facilities or directly into surface water while raw wastewater is discharged. This indicates the potential for the transfer of SARS-CoV-2 by water. In this regard, the development of effective methods for the removal and inactivation of viruses at the treatment facilities is of special actuality. The presence of coronavirus infection in wastewater can pose a serious health hazard to people in contact with it. These include the personnel at the wastewater treatment facilities, as well as the general population, who may be directly exposed to raw or inadequately treated wastewater through defective water or sewer systems. In many countries wastewater epidemiology methods are used to obtain timely reliable information on the spread of coronavirus infection. Possible detection of RNA virus in wastewater even with a low prevalence rate of COVID-19 and the correlation between the concentration of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater and official information indicate that monitoring wastewater can become a sensitive tool for monitoring the circulation of the virus in the
population.

Key words

treatment facilities , wastewater , inactivation , SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus , feces , infection risk , removal , epidemiology of wastewater