Our wastewater reflects our lifestyles, so sanitation activities can be a valuable health monitoring tool for communities.
A decision-making tool to help fight the pandemic
During the health crisis, SUEZ developed the Covid-19 City Watch solution to detect the presence of viral genome in wastewater using molecular biology.
Covid-19 City Watch is an effective monitoring system that tracks the spread of the virus in a city and anticipates potential outbreaks of new clusters within the population.
It is based on scientific research that has shown that the viral load present in wastewater is a relevant and early marker (two to five days) of its circulation in the population. The system warns of the emergence of new clusters as soon as the contamination phase begins, before symptoms start to appear.
Multivirus City Watch, wastewater for public health
We are now developing the innovation Multivirus City Watch, to help detect and monitor other epidemics including influenza, bronchiolitis, gastroenteritis and viral hepatitis.
The solution is moving towards an automated on-site sampling and analysis system, developed in collaboration with startups. Wastewater samples are taken at the inlet of treatment plants.
Multivirus City Watch is one of the first solutions of this type on the market to outpace the European obligations to monitor viruses in wastewater, which could result from the future Urban Wastewater Directive.
The Multivirus City Watch solution is being tested across several wastewater treatment plants in France. The solution has helped to monitor trends in 2022 winter's bronchiolitis, influenza and gastroenteritis epidemics.
