October 27, 2024
SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 infection can be detected in the stool of infected people over a significant portion of their illness. This provides an opportunity to test and monitor wastewater (sewage) for the presence of COVID-19 in communities and institutional settings (e.g. long-term care facilities) without the need for individual testing. Wastewater monitoring can also be used to monitor the circulation of variants of concern (VOC) and, in some circumstances, can be used as an early indicator for the presence of COVID-19 infections not yet detected by traditional clinical monitoring.
The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) is working in collaboration with other federal departments, provincial, territorial and municipal governments and academia across Canada to establish a pan-Canadian wastewater monitoring network capable of informing on the spread of COVID-19 in Canada (see Map and Critical Path documents). Wastewater has already been used to show early detection of COVID-19 in some Canadian jurisdictions prior to an increase of clinically diagnosed cases. As COVID-19 can be characterized by symptomatic and asymptomatic infection, it is important to identify the presence of undiagnosed cases to minimize the likelihood of outbreaks. Even a few days of early warning can be critical to the success of public health interventions and can be an important source of information for public health action.
In addition to COVID-19, wastewater monitoring can be used to monitor other public health threats, including the presence of antimicrobial resistance, other communicable diseases (e.g. influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and tuberculosis) and chemical markers indicating the health of a community (e.g. the use of opioids).
Pan-Canadian Wastewater Monitoring Network Map
National Wastewater Monitoring Dashboard
The Public Health Agency of Canada has developed a dashboard to track and compare the COVID-19 levels in some major communities across Canada over time. This signal level and trend data is updated Tuesdays and Fridays every week and the variant data is updated biweekly on Fridays. This data can be found here: COVID-19 Wastewater Monitoring Dashboard
Canadian Wastewater Survey (CWS)
Statistics Canada and PHAC have been collaborating on the Canadian Waster Survey (CWS) to conduct testing of wastewater samples for SARS-CoV-2 from wastewater treatment plants in five cities across Canada (Halifax, Montréal, Toronto, Edmonton, and Vancouver) since September 2020.
Wastewater Monitoring Report:
For more information on the CWS please see the following links:
City of Winnipeg, Manitoba Trend Reports
PHAC is working with the city of Winnipeg and the province of Manitoba to conduct wastewater monitoring for SARS-CoV-2 in the city’s three wastewater treatment plants.
Wastewater Monitoring Report:
- Winnipeg: Modelling Report for SARS-CoV-2
Canadian Wastewater COVID-19 Monitoring Dashboards or Websites
Alberta
Alberta Health Respiratory Virus Dashboard
Centre for Health Informatics Dashboard
British Columbia
Provincial Health Services Authority Wastewater Dashboard
Metro Vancouver COVID-19 Wastewater Dashboard
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador Wastewater Report
Northwest Territories
Wastewater Monitoring in the Northwest Territories
Public Health Ontario Wastewater Dashboard
Algoma Public Health Unit Dashboard
Brant County Health Unit Dashboard
City of Greater Sudbury Dashboard
Durham Region COVID-19 Wastewater
Eastern Ontario Health Unit Dashboard
Hamilton Public Health Services Dashboard
Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit Dashboard
Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit Dashboard
Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox, and Addington Public Health Dashboard
Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit Dashboard
Middlesex-London Health Unit Dashboard
Northwestern Health Unit Dashboard
Ottawa Public Health Dashboard
Peterborough Public Health Dashboard
Region of Peel – Public Health Weekly Report
Southwestern Public Health Dashboard
Thunder Bay District Health Unit Dashboard
Timiskaming Health Unit Report
Toronto Public Health Wastewater Report
Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health Dashboard
Windsor-Essex County Dashboard
Quebec
Institut national de santé publique du Québec
Current and Past Webinars
- PHAC hosted a Webinar entitled “Moving SARS-CoV-2 signals in Wastewater to Public Health Action” on April 1, 2021. Presentations covered laboratory methods, public health interpretation survey results, and two case studies (Ottawa and Northwest Territories).
- The Health Canada Testing, Contact Tracing, and Data Strategies secretariat and Public Health Agency of Canada organized a joint Knowledge Exchange session on ‘Wastewater monitoring in Canada – Lessons Learnt’ on September 27, 2021. The presentations covered lessons learnt from monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater collected at wastewater treatment plants or further upstream at facility level.
Publications and Reports
- Barker at al. (2021) – MMMVI: Detecting SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern in metagenomic samples
- Chik et al. (2021) – Comparison of approaches to quantify SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater using RT-qPCR: Results and implications from a collaborative inter-laboratory study in Canada
- Landgraff et al. (2021) – Metagenomic sequencing of municipal wastewater provides a near-complete SARS-CoV-2 genome sequence identified as the B.1.1.7 variant of concern from a Canadian municipality concurrent with an outbreak
- Manuel et al. (2021) – The role of wastewater testing for SARS-CoV-2 Surveillance
- Nourbakhsh et al. (2021) – A wastewater-based epidemic model for SARS-CoV-2 with application to three Canadian cities
- Arts et al. (2022) – Community Surveillance of Omicron in Ontario: Wastewater-based Epidemiology Comes of Age
- Champredon et al. (2022) – Emergence and spread of SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern in Canada: A retrospective analysis from clinical and wastewater data
- Daigle et al. (2022) – A sensitive and rapid wastewater test for SARS-COV-2 and its use for the early detection of a cluster of cases in a remote community
- Fuzzen et al. (2022) – Multiplex RT-qPCR assay (N200) to detect and estimate prevalence of multiple SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern in wastewater
- Xie et al. (2022) – RNA in Municipal Wastewater Reveals Magnitudes of COVID-19 Outbreaks across Four Waves Driven by SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern
- Asadi et al. (2023) – Assessment of rapid wastewater surveillance for determination of communicable disease spread in municipalities
- Fuzzen et al. (2023) – An improved method for determining frequency of multiple variants of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater using qPCR assays
- Hasing et al. (2023) – Wastewater surveillance monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern and dynamics of transmission and community burden of COVID-19
- Joung et al. (2023) – Coupling Wastewater-Based Epidemiological Surveillance and Modelling of SARS-COV-2/COVID-19: Practical Applications at the Public Health Agency of Canada
- Peterson et al. (2023) – RT-qPCR detection of SARS-CoV-2 mutations S 69-70 del, S N501Y and N D3L associated with variants of concern in Canadian wastewater sample
- Sachdeva et al. (2023) – Preparing for mpox resurgence: Surveillance lessons from outbreaks in Toronto, Canada
- Corrin et al. (2024) – A scoping review of human pathogens detected in untreated human wastewater and sludge
- Mejia et al. (2024) – Detection of Mpox Virus in Wastewater Provides Fore-Warning of Clinical Cases in Canadian Cities
- Oloye et al. (2024) – Solid-liquid distribution of SARS-CoV-2 in primary effluent of a wastewater treatment plant
Guidance Document for Wastewater Monitoring
Environment and Climate Change Canada, Wastewater Science Unit:
Public Health Agency of Canada:
- Normalization Practices for SARS-CoV-2 Data in Wastewater-based Epidemiology
- Packaging Wastewater Samples for Shipment
- Wastewater Sampling and Transport from Communities
Ontario – Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks:
Public Health Agency of Canada Wastewater Working Groups and Meetings
The Public Health Agency of Canada is leading working groups and meetings related to wastewater monitoring for COVID-19 to discuss sampling, laboratory methods, data models, modelling and public health action and response. There are currently four working groups and meetings held regularly:
SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern in Wastewater
This working group brings together researchers, academic and government partners across Canada working on wastewater monitoring to discuss the detection of variants of concern/interest in wastewater and interpretation of results. The meeting highlights key issues related to variants of concern/interest detection and sequencing and all laboratories or monitoring programs across the country to provide an update and share their experiences.
Wastewater Laboratory Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Working Group
This working group brings together laboratories across Canada conducting wastewater testing and monitoring for SARS-CoV-2 to discuss methods (e.g. PCR, QA/QC), sampling issues, data interpretation, reporting of results, and any other topics related to laboratory methods for detection.
Wastewater SARS-CoV-2 Monitoring Updates
This working group brings together wastewater monitoring partners across the country to create a forum for moving wastewater monitoring to public health action. This working group builds the connections between environmental sampling groups, laboratories, academia and public health to discuss sampling strategies, data interpretation and public health reporting and action.
Data Modelling and Epidemiological Interpretation Working Group
This working group brings together modellers and epidemiologists from all levels of government and academia to discuss modelling, modelling methods and interpretation of wastewater testing results as they relate to clinical monitoring.
Connect with Us
For any inquiries or to attend any of these meetings, please contact: nmlwastewater@phac-aspc.gc.ca