OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
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Increasing Wastewater Surveillance Visibility in Oregon. Utility leadership and operators requested both greater awareness that utilities are participating in the program and to communicate how the data is used to benefit communities. In response, we conducted visits with 23 counties including Multnomah, Yamhill, Columbia, Clatsop, Clackamas, Lane, Tillamook, Marion, Polk, and Washington counties (see photos of wastewater tours clockwise from top left: Portland, McMinnville, St. Helens, Astoria, Wilsonville, and Florence in center with - yes - views of sand dunes!). In addition, we presented at the 2023 and 2024 WEF workshops, presented at the 2024 PNCWA Annual Conference (photo top right) and participated in the 2025 OSU National Science Foundation 75th Anniversary event to promote public knowledge of the program (photo bottom right). Moving forward, we are presenting at the 2025 ORWEF Water Environment School next month and at the 2025 PNCWA Annual Conference in September. If you have additional ideas to increase visibility, please let us know!
Local Public Health County Visit Survey. Thank you to those county health departments who have responded to the survey. So far, we have 11 responses from 11 counties. We are hoping for responses from an additional 9 counties, plus any additional feedback from public health individuals in any county. We will email the survey again this month. Please consider contributing feedback on how your county uses the data, suggestions for improvement to the wastewater surveillance program, and whether you found the county visit helpful. Thank you!
Article: Study supporting implementation of wastewater surveillance at US Military Installations. This cost model analysis found that wastewater surveillance is highly cost-effective, costing $10.5 to $18.5 million per year less than clinical swab testing. Access the article at https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11396592/
Our Publication List and Links. As requested by utilities and local public health agencies, this is a summarized list of our collaborative publications on wastewater surveillance. This list is also available on our website https://research.engr.oregonstate.edu/owws/publications. Thank you to all utilities who provide voluntary samples to make this work possible.
Olsen Martinez, A. et al. (2025). Air, surface, and wastewater surveillance of SARS-CoV-2; a multimodal evaluation of COVID-19 detection in a built environment. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol. 1-11.
Summary: Environmental surveillance of wastewater, surfaces, inside air, and roof top exhaust can provide early detection of SARS-CoV-2 in a residential building.
Falender, R. et al. (2025). Avian Influenza A(H5) Subtype in Wastewater — Oregon, September 15, 2021–July 11, 2024. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 74,102–106.
Summary: Wastewater surveillance detected the emergence of avian influenza A(H5) in Oregon in a three-year retrospective study that does not distinguish human sources from wild or domestic animal sources.
Lininger, N. et al. (2025). Correlation between Viral Wastewater Concentration and Respiratory Tests, Oregon, USA. Emerg Infect Dis. 30 (10), 2194-2196.
Summary: Comparisons between sampled wastewater concentrations and patient testing for SARS-CoV-2, influenza, and RSV throughout Oregon are highly correlated.
Hachimi, O. et al. (2024). Evaluation of molecular-based methods for the detection and quantification of Cryptosporidium spp. in wastewater. Sci Total Environ. 947, 174219.
Summary: Various methods of Cryptosporidium genetic marker collection and identification were compared and contrasted with the aim of establishing a standardized wastewater surveillance method at the population level.
Lisboa, D. et al. (2024). Beyond campus borders: wastewater surveillance sheds light on university COVID-19 interventions and their community impact. Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol. 11, 114-125.
Summary: The OSU wastewater surveillance pilot program, performed from September 2020 through June 2022, displayed the program’s ability to statistically connect the school’s public health measures to real reductions in infections between campus and the surrounding communities.
Lawless, J.W. et al. (2024) Representative public health surveys pose several challenges: lessons learned across 9 communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. AJPM Focus, 3 (2), 100198.
Summary: To replace biased acute symptom and unequal access to SARS-CoV-2 testing, an interdisciplinary OSU team developed a rapid assessment of a representative cluster sample using voluntary nasal swabs in various Oregon communities.
Philo, S.E. at al. (2023). Wastewater surveillance for bacterial targets: current challenges and future goals. Appl Environ Microbiol. 90, 1.
Summary: As the Covid-19 public health emergency ends, researchers are aiming to adapt the new field of wastewater-based epidemiology to other pathogens in public health while properly addressing associated challenges.
Kaya D. et al. (2022) Correlation between clinical and wastewater SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance, Oregon, USA. Emerg. Infect. Dis. 28, 1906–1908.
Summary: Wastewater surveillance practices for SARS-CoV-2 variant proportions are strongly correlated (0.97) with clinical sequencing, supporting that wastewater surveillance is a reliable method for community level genomic monitoring.
Layton, B.A. et al. (2022) Evaluation of a wastewater-based epidemiological approach to estimate the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infections and the detection of viral variants in disparate Oregon communities at city and neighborhood scales. Environ. Health Perspect. 130, 067010.
Summary: A study ending in 2022 concluded that wastewater epidemiology can provide superior intra-state SARS-CoV-2 monitoring than traditional clinically reported cases.
Sutton, M. et al. (2022) Detection of SARS-CoV-2 B.1.351 (Beta) variant through wastewater surveillance before case detection in a community, Oregon, USA. Emerg Infect Dis. 28(6):1101-1109. doi:10.3201/eid2806.211821.
Summary: In support of wastewater epidemiology, emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2 were detected days to weeks before clinical specimens were sequenced.
George A.D. et al. (2022) Impact of sampling type, frequency, and scale of the collection system on SARS-CoV-2 quantification fidelity. Environ. Sci. Technol. Lett. 9, 160–165.
Summary: Composite sampling is recommended for lower flow locations as well as with higher frequency while grab samples remain accurate at high flow locations.
McClary-Gutierrez, J.S. et al. (2021) Standardizing data reporting in the research community to enhance the utility of open data for SARS-CoV-2 wastewater surveillance. Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol. 7, 1545–1551.
Summary: A 2021 National Science Foundation workshop established recommendations on minimum meta-information for wastewater data interpretation as well as improved standardizations of data reporting.
Harris-Lovett, S. et al. (2021) Wastewater surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 on college campuses: initial efforts, lessons learned, and research needs. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public. Health 18, 4455.
Summary: The report summarizes the experiences of 25 public and private colleges as they experimented, evaluated, and adapted their wastewater surveillance programs during the fall 2020 term and explores how the development of the programs can inform its continued evolution.
Pecson, B. et al. (2021) Reproducibility and sensitivity of 36 methods to quantify the SARS-CoV-2 genetic signal in raw wastewater: findings from an interlaboratory methods evaluation in the U.S. Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol. 7, 504-520.
Summary: An interlaboratory study demonstrated that diverse methods of quantifying SARS-CoV-2 genetic markers in wastewater remain highly reproducible, with 80% of recovery-corrected results staying within a narrow range of variability.
OHA/OSU Joint Press Release for Utility Appreciation Outreach - 7/17/23
Wastewater treatment plants recognized for role in tracking COVID-19 transmission - KEZI 9 News 7/17/23
OHA thanks wastewater utilities for their help in monitoring COVID-19 - KOBI 5 News - 7/17/23
