Wastewater Continues to Provide an Effective Means to Track COVID-19 and Other Diseases

Tracking viral activity in wastewater emerged as a valuable way to map and monitor the spread of COVID-19 early on in the coronavirus pandemic. Many viruses can be tracked through wastewater data, as virus fragments can be excreted into wastewater even when individuals do not have symptoms of the virus. Wastewater operators send samples of untreated wastewater to laboratories, where technicians test the water to find out what viruses are currently circulating in a community. This can help public health officials guide their communities through infection prevention, testing, and vaccination, as necessary.

Poliovirus was the first virus widely tracked through wastewater surveillance, beginning in the 1990s as part of efforts to finally fully eradicate polio. But public awareness of this concept became more widely known with COVID-19. The height of  the pandemic has passed, but many tracking efforts continue in order to keep tabs on the disease’s current threat level and to advance continued research into it.

Newsweek continues to publish an updated COVID map each week showing the results of the past week’s viral monitoring across the United States. See the December 18 update here. It reveals the highest viral activity for SARS-CoV-2 virus (which causes COVID-19) in Arizona, New Mexico, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, and South Dakota.

The data for these updates comes directly from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which also has multiple publicly accessible dashboards showing data for COVID-19 and other diseases tracked by the National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS).

Find the dashboards for the viruses tracked by the NWSS here:

• COVID-19
• Influenza A
• RSV
• Mpox

Many states also run their own dashboards of surveillance data for COVID-19 and other viruses, including:

• California
• Colorado
• New York
• North Carolina
• Wisconsin

Notably, California has also recently found H5N1 bird flu virus in the wastewater from cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco, reflecting the rise of avian influenza. The CDC has an avian influenza tracker as a subset of the Influenza A dashboard. As of December 14, the vast majority of H5N1 found in wastewater has been in California, with the most recent additional detections so far found in Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, and Texas. It has also been detected in Hawai’i.

Not every wastewater treatment plant in a given state participates in tracking, so it should be kept in mind that the available data is a snapshot of only a portion of the state’s population. Tracking programs can incur significant expenses for wastewater utilities that can be out of reach especially for smaller operations. But there are often opportunities to engage in partnerships with other entities to reduce or erase these costs, such as what the Abilene Taylor County Public Health Department recently began with Baylor University in Texas.

Additional Reading

• Tracking COVID-19 with wastewater, Nature

• Tracking COVID-19 Through Wastewater, National Institutes of Health

• Tracking COVID-19 in 2024: Wastewater data provides key early warning sign for surges, University of California-Davis Health

• Post Pandemic: Wastewater-based Surveillance of Diseases Comes of Age, Health Policy Watch

The Potential of Artificial Intelligence in Wastewater Treatment

The need to conserve water and manage it more efficiently is perhaps now more dire than it ever has been. Among other water consumption issues: We have a record, still-growing population on the planet; accelerating levels of drought worldwide; and the artificial intelligence (AI) boom is guzzling water at a dazzling rate in order to keep data servers running.

Ironically, though, AI might just also be essential to redefining and maximizing the efficiency of our water use, along with similar emerging digital technologies like machine learning (ML), automation, and digital twins. These technologies can create “smart water” systems for industry — A concept that’s been primarily associated with drinking water, but is also starting to blossom in the wastewater sector as well.

Around two trillion gallons of treated wastewater are lost in the United States each year, which is a massive blow to US business and the environment. AI, ML, digital twins, and automation have the potential to mitigate the infrastructural inefficiencies that cause this water loss by optimizing water use, reducing the loss, and helping to build circular water management systems/economies that will emphasize reuse and minimization of use/waste across all sectors of industry.

In wastewater treatment plants specifically, these technologies can assist in understanding a system’s rate of flow, optimizing and saving energy, and providing data that is a useful tool in the decision-making process. These benefits would add up to significant cost savings in both expenditures and labor, and more importantly contribute to lessening our environmental burdens and increasing sustainability.

Wastewater Digest, which is following the expansion of AI and its sister technologies in the wastewater sector closely, says industry should implement these actions in order to reduce and optimize industrial water use:

• Assess and monitor water use with smart technology
• Invest in digital technologies like AI, ML, and digital twins
• Automate water management operations to maintain optimal performance
• Foster cultural sustainability so that everyone contributes to saving water
• Collaborate across industry to amplify results

Primary Sources and Additional Information

• Turning the tide: How automation is reshaping water use in industry
• AI is transforming the future of wastewater system management and treatment
• Wastewater, AI and aeration blower performance
• Can you trust predictive wastewater analytics?
• Exploring the intersection of data, communications & power infrastructure
• Optimizing wastewater treatment through artificial intelligence: recent advances and future prospects
• Artificial Intelligence and IoT in Wastewater Treatment
• How AI is being used in wastewater treatment plants?

Featured Webinar Series: Improving CWA-NPDES Permit Compliance

Have you attended webinars from the Improving CWA-NPDES Permit Compliance series of technical assistance webinars put on by the EPA and the Significant Noncompliance Rate Reduction National Compliance Initiative? (Also known as the SNC NCI).

These webinars are meant for plant operators, municipal leaders, TAPs, and compliance inspectors who are working to improve surface water quality and drinking water impacts by ensuring compliance with Clean Water Act and/or National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permits. Attending live will provide you with a certificate of attendance that may be eligible for CEU credit in your state, depending on your state’s certification authority. The EPA has an archive of webinar recordings dating back to 2019, but watching these recordings does not make you eligible for a certificate of attendance or any CEU credit.

All the same, the recording archive contains information on a wealth of topics under the umbrella of CWA/NPDES permit compliance. We have put together a few recommended highlights below, but be sure to examine the whole archive as you grow your knowledge in pollutant discharge.

Recording Highlights

POTWs – What Does Your Permit Say? (Part 1)
January 22, 2024: This presentation covers how to read and understand a NPDES permit, how permittees can ensure that permit requirements are met, and a discussion of the most common reporting requirements for NPDES permits. Presented by Dan Connally, vice president of ERG Group with 22 years of experience in NPDES permit development.

POTWs – What Does Your Permit Say? (Part 2)
February 28, 2024: Part two of ‘What Does Your Permit Say?’ covers the permit requirements for pretreatment and biosolids, associated federal regulations, and both standard and special conditions for publicly owned treatment works. Presented by Dan Connally, Bob Brobst (Principal Environmental Engineer at PG Environmental), and Chuck Durham (Principal Engineer and Senior Project Manager at PG Environmental).

Fats, Oils, and Grease: What We Know After 23 Years of FOG Work
October 12, 2023: This presentation focuses on managing the impacts of FOGs on collection systems and wastewater treatment plants, as well as fees, public outreach, and enforcement for food service establishments. Presented by Byron Ross of Monitoring & Management Services, with nearly 40 years of experience in wastewater treatment.

Everything You Wanted to Know About PFAS But Were Afraid to Ask
April 12, 2023: This session examines the emerging contaminants PFAS and PFOA and discusses their uses, properties, impacts, and possible treatment methods in wastewater and drinking water. Viewers will also learn to identify the sources of these contaminants. Treatment options explored include activated carbon, ion exchange resin, reverse osmosis/nanofiltration, advanced oxidation, and biosolid removal. Presented by Jamie Hope, wastewater operator and training technician, with four decades of experience in wastewater treatment.

Small POTWs: What to Expect and How to Prepare for your NPDES Permit
June 16, 2022: This webinar explains what a small publicly owned treatment works can expect as they undertake NPDES permitting. It also features a step-by-step overview of obtaining a permit and insights on collaborating with permitting authorities. Presented by Sean Ramach, NPDES Training Coordinator for the EPA Office of Wastewater Management, Water Permits Division.

New Decentralized Wastewater Website Coming Soon!

DecentralizedWastewater.org will be launching soon as a new sister program of WaterOperator.org and PrivateWellClass.org.

Through a partnership of the Illinois State Water Survey and the Rural Community Assistance Partnership, the new website will provide training and technical assistance resources to wastewater professionals, onsite system owners, and managers of centralized and onsite/decentralized wastewater systems. We will host thousands of wastewater training documents, a calendar of training events, a regular webinar series, and more.

If you are seeking documents and events right away, you can check to see what is currently listed on the WaterOperator.org Documents Library and Event Calendar. Existing decentralized wastewater information will continue to be available on WaterOperator.org.

The program’s newsletter will be sent out monthly, and has launched already. You can sign up for the email list here, and check out the January, February, and March editions.

Please feel free to contact us at info@decentralizedwastewater.org if you have any comments, would like us to find something for you, or have information that will help other onsite/decentralized wastewater operators, installers, inspectors, and owners!

Emerging Contaminants and Your Onsite Wastewater Treatment System

When installed, operated, and maintained correctly, septic systems should not pollute groundwater or cause any danger to the drinking water supply. But the unfortunate fact is that pollutants and contaminants do make their way out of septic systems and into groundwater all the same. And this isn’t always to do with poor installation or maintenance — if a septic owner is putting things down their toilets and drains that aren’t meant to be treated by a septic system, these things become all the more likely to get into the groundwater. This is one of the reasons why making sure everyone knows the Three Ps of septic systems is so important! (That’s pee, poop, and toilet paper, of course).

A 2017 study in the journal Environmental Science & Technology showed that American septic systems are regularly depositing pharmaceuticals, consumer product chemicals, and other hazardous chemicals into the environment. Due to their presence in consumer and industrial products throughout society, such chemicals — often called contaminants of emerging concern or emerging contaminants — find their way into bodies and supplies of water in numerous ways, not just through septic systems. They can not only threaten public health by contaminating a human drinking water supply, but cause environmental problems for ecosystems and organisms as well. For instance, the feminization of male fish and fertility issues in other animals have been strongly linked to emerging contaminants.

This 2017 study suggests that besides emphasizing the need to avoid putting pollutants into a septic system, the best way to protect groundwater from septic contamination is keeping septic systems away from the aquifers and wells that supply drinking water. But, of course, many septic systems already exist in such a range and other solutions for preventing them from discharging too many emerging contaminants are needed.

While any chemical going into a septic system that isn’t one of the Three Ps is a contamination risk and absolutely should not enter a septic tank, some chemicals or contaminants will naturally be more of a cause for alarm than others. Right now, the pollutants society is likely most concerned about at large are PFAS compounds and microplastics, both of which have been found coming out of septic systems.

Though PFAS (Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also commonly known as forever chemicals) have become a high-profile concern in more recent years, PFAS have been one of the most frequently detected compounds in drinking water wells since at least 2016, contamination which has been linked to septic systems.  

For more information on protecting groundwater from failing septic systems and forever chemicals, check out this article on the subject from SCS Engineers.

As for microplastics, the impossibly tiny bits of degraded plastic have been found everywhere from clouds to likely into human brains, and some believe septic tanks are the primary source of microplastics found in underwater drinking water reservoirs. The issue of microplastics in its totality certainly cannot primarily be blamed on septic systems, but figuring out how to decrease their presence in as many sources as possible is critical.

Another consideration with microplastics in septic systems isn’t just the environmental contamination — the buildup of solids in the system can also cause issues for the operation of the system. In fact, a 2015 Pumper Magazine article refers to microplastics as “tiny terrorists” in septic systems.

More to the point, microplastics are a type of solid that “remain[s] suspended are small rough to move readily through the screen and into the soil treatment area. If these solids are small pieces of organic material, they will break down or be consumed in the soil. However, if they are inert particles such as … plastics or other synthetic materials, they will not break down in the soil environment and will plug the soil pores, permanently reducing the ability of the soil to accept septic tank effluent. There is no fix when this happens other than replacement.”

Solutions to protect septic systems and the groundwater reservoirs they feed into from microplastics are hard to come by, short of emphasizing to septic owners the necessity of keeping everything but the Three Ps out of their systems and that they should try to buy fewer products containing microplastics to begin with.

How to Prepare a Septic System for a Large Event

Residential septic systems are designed to accommodate the wastewater from a specific number of people, typically judged by the number of bedrooms in the home. This normally doesn’t represent any issues for the regular residents, but the extra bathroom use necessitated by holding a large party or gathering can pose overload challenges for the septic system.

If a septic system is flooded by the overload of water from party guests in a concentrated timeframe, the overwhelming of the tank and drainfield could lead to sewage backups and flushing untreated effluent into the drainfield. In short, a quite possibly ruined party!

There are steps that homeowners can take to prepare for the impact on the septic system ahead of the party; mostly involving efficient use and management of water ahead of time. These are the steps advised by the septic education program at Michigan State University Extension:

• In the days leading up to the party, minimize the amount of water used for laundry, dishwashers, and showers.
• If the planned cooking is water intensive, do as much food prep and cooking ahead of time as possible.
• Rent a portable bathroom.
• Post bathroom rules to advise guests what can be flushed and other bathroom/septic safety tips.
• Have the septic system inspected and pumped before the party.
• Make sure that other outside sources of water, like eavestroughs or gutters, are routed away from the septic drainfield.

More Advice

• Things to Do to Save Septic System During Holidays | Crews Environmental
• A Guide to Holiday Guests and Septic Systems | West Coast Sanitation
• Why You Need to Prepare Your Septic Tank for the Holidays | A1 Tank Service
• Summer Gatherings and Your Septic System | All-Clear Septic & Wastewater Services

OSHA Requirements for Pumpers

It’s never a bad time for a refresh on the requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (better known as OSHA). The act, passed in 1970, comprises a set of federal standards for workplace safety, but it also allows individual states to submit and operate their own safety plans and requirements. State plans may cover all workers in a state, or may only cover state and local government workers only. It is important to know which category your state falls under.

OSHA state plans covering private and state/local government workplaces:
Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawai’i, Kentucky, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wyoming

OSHA state plans covering only state/local government workplaces:
Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Virgin Islands

No state plan, follows federal OSHA plans:  
Alabama, American Samoa, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Guam, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Northern Mariana Islands, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, Washington D.C., West Virginia, Wisconsin

State plans often don’t differ drastically from the federal OSHA plan, but the states of California, Michigan, Oregon, and Washington do have plans with substantial differences from the federal one.

Find your state OSHA office here >>

If you are in need of assistance in identifying and/or fixing workplace safety issues, most states do have consultation services available for free as part of the On-Site Consultation Program. Other OSHA programs workplaces can participate in include the Alliance Program, the OSHA Strategic Partnership Program, the Voluntary Protection Programs, and the OSHA Challenge Program.

Read more about the OSHA cooperative programs here >>

Keep in mind that the supervisor or crew leader of an onsite/decentralized wastewater work crew will typically be the OSHA competent person (unless there is a different employee specifically assigned to oversee safety). Whoever is in charge of safety, they must be able to identify critical issues, know and follow OSHA requirements, enforce a written safety plan, and create a culture of safety for the workforce.

The top reasons for accidents include rushing, poor concentration, and simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. A comprehensive safety plan can help address some of these causes and minimize damages after accidents do occur.

For more:

• A Pumper's Guide to Federal and State OSHA Standards, Pumper Magazine
• Focus on Safety: Installers Need to Make Safety a Priority, Onsite Installer
• Occupational Safety and Health Administration

How to Abandon a Septic System

There’s a number of situations in which a septic tank/system might need to be abandoned: replacing it with a new system, connecting to a city sewer, or abandoning a property altogether. Septic tanks, cesspools, leaching pits, dry wells, and everything related must be properly cared for and not simply left as they are. Most important is to ensure that access for future discharge from the system will never be possible.

Many states or localities will have specific requirements for procedures on abandoning a septic system. For example, you can take a look at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s guidance on abandoning a sub-surface sewage treatment system, where several state codes are referenced.

According to Sara Heger, septic educator at the University of Minnesota, there are three common practices for what to do with the empty tank:

1. Remove and dispose of the tank at a landfill.
2. Crush the tank entirely and backfill the hole. Water has to be able to drain through it, so it must be completely broken.
3. Fill the tank with a material like concrete that won’t let liquids flow through. There must be no risk of collapse in this scenario.

Basically, you never want to have an abandoned septic tank lying out exposed like in the photo above! Before codes and regulations for old septic systems came into place, it was common practice to simply leave the tanks where they were and forget about them. But this is quite dangerous. Old homes that were hooked into a sewer system long after construction should be inspected for old septic systems when sold.

An improperly abandoned septic system poses several possible risks. They could collapse into sinkholes, spread disease if untreated waste comes into contact with groundwater, or release toxic gasses like methane and hydrogen sulfide.

Be on the lookout for these signs of an abandoned septic system that is leaking, from B&B Pumping in Fort Worth: excessive weed growth on a lawn or algae on a pond, a perpetually soggy patch of lawn, an area of lawn that smells like human waste, unstable and sinking land, or pipes physically protruding from the ground.

Building over the top of even a properly abandoned septic tank isn’t a good idea, since sinking problems or leaked pollution could still occur if the area isn’t handled with care.

Costs of an Onsite Wastewater System

How much does a septic system cost in 2024?

There’s no simple answer — the cost of every single onsite treatment system is going to vary according to a number of factors. What we can tell you is this: as of 2024, HomeAdvisor.com, which aggregates home improvement and maintenance resources, lists the typical range of septic projects to cost between $3,484-$11,703.

The basic factors that HomeAdvisor identifies as driving the cost variations include the size, type, and material you need for the system. Be aware that these three key factors, as well as some others, can drive your costs up well beyond the upper end of that range.

Visit HomeAdvisor for a detailed breakdown of the ranges of costs for tank size, anaerobic vs. aerobic system tanks, types of alternative systems, material types, installation add-on costs, replacement costs, and more.

You can also get an estimate of the costs for your specific project’s needs, by entering information into their estimate tool. For the sake of accuracy and due diligence, it’s recommended to have at least 2-3 cost estimates before determining a final estimated price.

To find other septic professionals in your area, check NOWRA’s Septic Locator lookup tool. You’ll want to be able to list other septic professionals as references for your work, or to check the cost estimates with, when engaging with new potential clients. Networking is important!

So what do you do if you need help financing your septic project? Thankfully, there’s a number of resources available for assistance. You may want to visit the Financing page at the National Onsite Wastewater Recycling Association website — NOWRA has a long list of sites and organizations to visit for assistance, including the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Agriculture, and more.

Some other resources we would like to particularly recommend:

• The Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP) provides technical assistance and support to rural communities across the country. Their Water and Wastewater Technical Assistance Program has a special focus area in onsite/decentralized wastewater. While RCAP’s national organization does not provide services directly, their regional offices can assist with coordinating help for your community. Contact RCAP here.
• The Financing Septic Systems module in the EPA’s Water Finance Clearinghouse. The module is for homeowners seeking information to support the operations and maintenance, repair, or new construction of septic systems.
• Septic at EPA — Along with a host of other septic-related information and resources, the EPA has funding sources listed by federal programs, individual states, and tribal communities.

Can A Septic Tank Float?

As crazy as it might sound, the answer is yes: Septic tanks can float out of the ground. Any buried structure will float when empty if it weighs less than the water that displaces it. That means that when installing any sort of septic system in an area with a high water table and/or that is prone to flooding, you must conduct buoyancy tests and determine if the system will remain stable.

Dr. Sara Heger, instructor at the University of Minnesota’s Onsite Sewage Treatment Program, has broken down the calculation to determine tank stability at Onsite Installer. The basic steps are below, but Dr. Heger’s walk-through explains each step in detail and shows example calculations. You will need to know the individual weights of the following: the empty tank, the minimum amount of water and media in the tank, the soil directly above the tank, and the maximum volume of water that is displaced.

Here’s the calculation:

1. Calculate the weight of water displaced by the tank (buoyant force B).
2. Calculate or look up the weight of the tank (WT).
3. Calculate the weight of the water in the tank (WW).
4. Calculate the weight of the soil cover (WS).
5. Evaluation of net forces.

So if your calculations indicate that the tank will float, what do you do then? Thankfully, there are anti-floatation measures that can be added to the system design plans. Perhaps the most basic is to use concrete, which weighs 85 pounds per cubic foot and can be added into the design in a few different ways. Some fiberglass tanks may also have an anti-floatation lip built onto them.

It’s important to consider that any anti-floatation measure will increase stress forces on the tank, so the tanks must be able to withstand the extra force. Read more from Dr. Heger at Onsite Installer on anti-floatation.

If you ever do need to deal with a flooded septic system, whether the tank has emerged from the ground or not, refer here:

• “Faced with a Flooded Septic System?” also from Dr. Heger at Onsite Installer
• “Protecting a Septic System During and After a Flood” at WaterOperator.org
• Contact the Onsite Sewage Treatment Program at UMinn.