Wisconsin Wastewater Monitoring Program

Department of Health Services (DHS) is monitoring wastewater to track the levels of certain infectious disease in communities across Wisconsin:

• Certain viruses and bacteria are present in people's bodily waste, such as urine and feces, when they are infected. In some cases, these may be present even before a person experiences symptoms, or if they are infected but are not showing symptoms (asymptomatic). These viruses and bacteria flow into wastewater when a person uses a toilet, sink or shower.
• Untreated wastewater samples are collected from wastewater treatment facilities, and tested to measure the amount of viral material present in each sample. This tells us how widely a specific virus is spreading in the community.
• Tracking these levels over time allows communities to know when disease levels are rising so that they can act quickly to prevent further spread of infectious diseases.
• Wastewater monitoring has been shown to be an accurate, reliable, and cost-effective program for monitoring disease activity in Wisconsin and the United States.

Wastewater monitoring can:

• Serve as an early warning of increasing disease levels in communities.
• Inform the public of current disease levels in their community so that they can take steps to avoid illness.
• Alert public health departments and health care providers about increasing disease levels so they can prepare for surges in illnesses.

Wastewater treatment facilities across Wisconsin collect and submit untreated wastewater samples for testing. This includes facilities in both large and small cities. The participating wastewater treatment facilities currently represent approximately 50% of Wisconsin's population. This does not include individuals on private septic tanks or those connected to non-participating wastewater treatment facilities, unless they spend time in an area with a participating facility. Most facilities send in two samples per week.

The WSLH, MHDL, and UWM are specialized laboratories capable of analyzing wastewater samples from wastewater treatment facilities across Wisconsin to determine the amount of a viral material present in a given sample of untreated wastewater. This data is sent to Wisconsin DHS to share with the public, local and Tribal health departments, and the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).