Water Sector News
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EXCLUSIVE: Here's how COVID is detected in wastewater throughout CA
Jun 14, 2022
https://abc7news.com/covid-wastewater-testing-palo-alto-regional-water-quality-control-plant-coronavirus-cases-how-to-test-for/11961090/
ABC7's Luz Pena walked through the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant, which has been testing wastewater for COVID.
PALO ALTO, Calif. (KGO) -- Silicon Valley runs on data and, when it comes to the next pandemic, scientists are looking in a place where everything was once considered waste until now.
Jaime Allen walked ABC7 News through the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant. This facility serves over 200,000 people across the Bay Area, but since the pandemic they've been doing more than clean millions of gallons of wastewater a day. They are playing a key role in detecting COVID.
"A lot of people are using rapid tests at home and those tests results are not reported to the local health department. So, there is no way of them knowing how many people actually have COVID. Wastewater gives us a true picture," said Professor Alexandria Boehm, Stanford's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Jaime Allen walked ABC7 News through the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant. This facility serves over 200,000 people across the Bay Area, but since the pandemic they've been doing more than clean millions of gallons of wastewater a day. They are playing a key role in detecting COVID.
"A lot of people are using rapid tests at home and those tests results are not reported to the local health department. So, there is no way of them knowing how many people actually have COVID. Wastewater gives us a true picture," said Professor Alexandria Boehm, Stanford's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.