Sampling CU Boulder Wastewater For Coronavirus: How It Works

BOULDER, CO — University of Colorado Boulder researchers are setting up an anonymous observational network to monitor wastewater from residence halls. The network will help "detect and intercept community spread of COVID-19," university officials said.

Cresten Mansfeldt, the project lead and assistant professor of civil, environmental and architectural engineering at CU Boulder, said that between 40 and 80 percent of those infected shed the SARS-COV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. What they flush down the toilet can contain the virus.

“It’s not a diagnosis, but could identify whether or not there are infections in certain areas of the campus,” Mansfeldt said. “It complements the entire framework being deployed at the university.”

The non-invasive wastewater surveillance system will include 23 sewer sampling stations, which will be run and tested by Mansfeldt and a team of 18 students and microbiologists.

The project can provide an early warning, detecting infections almost a week before someone with COVID-19 might show symptoms and need to seek medical attention.

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While it can't identify individual people, the monitoring system can narrow down a potential infection from a sampling location. Individual testing resources can then be deployed to a specific residence hall or be recommended for certain groups of students — catching and isolating the virus before it can spread throughout the community, the university said.

The sampling stations Mansfeldt’s team are setting up include a small pump and battery that pull wastewater from the sewage system from 4 to 20 feet below into a secure container, which has a cooler over 24 hours. Each station can gather about 2 gallons a day.

Each day, the team takes samples from the sites and analyzes them with the same type of testing that is done on the samples collected from people through a nose swab for diagnostic testing.

Any virus that a student sheds through wastewater will be detected in a station’s sample about 36 hours after they flush, researchers said.

The wastewater initiative was started by Roy Parker, professor of biochemistry, and the campus planning committee that oversaw the safe return to campus this fall, the university said. Many other university groups also contributed to the program.