WBE (or wastewater-based epidemiology or sewage chemical information mining) is a technique for identifying a population's consumption or exposure to chemicals or diseases. A sewage treatment facility measures chemical or biological entities (biomarkers) in municipal wastewater to do so. In addition to illicit drug usage, wastewater-based epidemiology can quantify alcohol, caffeine, medicines, and other chemicals. Wastewater-based epidemiology can also detect diseases like SARS-CoV-2 in a population. Wastewater-based epidemiology is a multidisciplinary effort including wastewater treatment plant operators, chemists, and epidemiologists.
Professionals in water quality use the term contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) to describe pollutants found in water bodies that may harm the environment or human health but are not currently regulated. Agriculture, urban runoff, ordinary household products (like soaps and disinfectants) and pharmaceuticals are all sources of these pollutants.
Natural and synthetic hormones are emerging contaminants, as is 1,4-dioxane. CECs can enter the water cycle after being discharged as waste via runoff into rivers, effluent discharge, or seepage and infiltration into the water table, eventually entering the public water supply system. Some emerging contaminants are known carcinogens and cause endocrine disruption and other toxic mechanisms.
The full line of Teledyne ISCO samplers can assist local governments, private industry, colleges and universities, and many others in detecting the COVID-19 virus, pharmaceuticals and CECs in wastewater and providing the information needed to create a plan of action.
For more information about Teledyne ISCO product in Florida, contact Instrument Specialities, Inc. Call 407-324-7800 or visit https://isisales.com.
