Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) emerged as a powerful, actionable health management tool during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hypothesizing future uses, we theoretically explored its potential for real-time, economic tracking of progress in attaining United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) globally. We inventoried (i) literature-documented sewerage infrastructure, (ii) demographics of populations served, and (iii) WBE biomarkers informative of 9 SDGs. Driven mainly by COVID-19, WBE currently is practiced in at least 55 countries, reaching about 300 million people. Expansion of WBE to 107,000+ treatment plants inventoried in 129 countries would increase global coverage 9-fold to 34.7% or 2.7 billion, leaving out 5 billion people not served by centralized sewerage systems. Associations between population demographics and present-day infrastructure are explored, and geospatial regions particularly vulnerable to infectious disease outbreaks are identified. The results suggest that difference in the differential outcomes in well-being is an outcome of the sanitation infrastructure inequalities and lack of sanitation infrastructure creates doubly disadvantaged populations at risk of poor hygiene and cut off from the early-warning benefits of conventional WBE.

Opportunities and limits of wastewater-based epidemiology for tracking global health and attainment of UN Sustainable Development Goals

Fall 2022 abstracts, posters, and presentations will launch in mid-September.

ACS Fall 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.