Borja, Yasmin Kaye C.

CHE 510-CHE52S1 - Industrial Waste Management and Control

Case Study: Can Corona Virus Disease Spread Through Sewage

As the coronavirus pandemic progresses and continues to take millions of lives

throughout the world, additional details about how the virus spreads in the population become
available. The COVID-19 virus is spread through two major routes: respiratory and contact.
When an infected individual coughs or sneezes, respiratory droplets are produced. Droplets may
also drop on surfaces where the virus may remain alive, making an infected person's immediate
surroundings a source of transmission (contact transmission). Now, scientists are turning to
wastewater to investigate its frequency in a specific demographic. The virus's capacity to
propagate through sewage is one important notion on which scientists have yet to reach a definite
judgment. In 2020, the presence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-
CoV-2) in water and wastewater has been reported. The major route of coronavirus transmission
into water and wastewater, according to current research, is through the feces and masks of
patients diagnosed with coronavirus illness (COVID-19).

According to a review by experts at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, recent

examinations have revealed the presence of live virus in stool samples, indicating a probable
faecal–oral transmission of COVID-19. Patients with no evidence of the new coronavirus in their
respiratory tracts have been found in many investigations. The virus, on the other hand, was
discovered in their feces and gastrointestinal systems. With COVID-19 cases, infected feces can
easily contaminate wastewater generated by hospitals, quarantine centers, and residential
residences. It has the potential to increase the virus's concentration in aquatic bodies that receive
untreated sewage.

With about 1.8 billion people globally drinking faecal-contaminated water, the danger of
COVID-19 transmission through untreated sewage is predicted to grow by many orders of
magnitude, according to the researchers.
 Also, several nations across the world were looking into wastewater-based epidemiology
(WBE) as a way to estimate the virus's spread in their communities. COVID-19 DNA fragments
were rapidly identified in wastewater influents, with some investigations indicating that the virus
might persist for three weeks or more. However, the length of time it could survive in sewage
varied depending on the temperature of the effluent, its acidity, the percentage of suspended
particles and organic matter, and other variables.

In addition, Professor Richard Quilliam of the University of Stirling in the United

Kingdom has published a new study warning that the sewage system might represent a
transmission danger. Professor Quilliam and colleagues from the University of Stirling's Faculty
of Natural Sciences have published an article in the journal Environment International calling for
"an investment of resources" to examine their concerns. “We know that Covid-19 is transferred
by droplets from coughs and sneezes, or via infected items or materials,” Prof Quilliam said in a
statement. However, it was recently shown that the virus may be detected in human feces up to
33 days after a patient has tested negative for Covid-19-related respiratory symptoms. Although
it is unknown if the virus may be transferred from feces to the mouth, we do know that viral
shedding from the digestive system can continue longer than shedding from the respiratory tract.
As a result, this might be a critical — yet unquantified — route for increasing exposure.

But with all that said, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is evaluating new
information on COVID-19 transmission. The danger of the virus that causes COVID-19 being
transmitted through sewage systems is currently believed to be minimal. Although COVID-19
transmission through sewage is theoretically feasible, no proof of this has been found to far. As
new evidence is evaluated, this guideline will be updated as needed.

Despite the fact that COVID-19 fragments have been shown to survive in wastewater
influent, the general agreement among those who have examined the virus is that it does not
remain active. This implies that contracting the disease by inhalation of the particles is extremely
improbable, and the strict filtering procedures used at those locations imply that there is no risk
of transmission through drinking water.