Untreated wastewater is responsible for the deaths of 800 children under five every day, and inflicts serious damage to the environment. Knowing where sewage ends up is vital.
Damage to septic tanks is one of the major health hazards people face when they return to their bushfire-affected homes. It was simply dumb luck a disease outbreak didn’t happen last summer.
The government plans to monitor sewage for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. And while this holds promise to tracking future local outbreaks, there are also some sticky ethical questions to consider.
The solids from wastewater plants are usually dumped into landfills because they are contaminated with heavy metals. Now there is a way to remove the metals so the waste can be used as fertilizer.
Kumbh Mela is the world’s largest congregation of people – so large, it’s visible from space. However, river pollution is a major issue here and new solutions are needed.
Polio can be circulating through a community long before anyone is paralyzed. Monitoring sewage for the virus lets public health officials short-circuit this ‘silent transmission.’
Many people board up their houses and stay in place during disasters – but often they aren’t prepared to go without water, power or transportation for days or weeks afterward.