Communities in Merced, Stanislaus, and Yolo counties are using wastewater, also known as sewage, to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The virus that causes COVID-19 leaves markers in our wastewater. Everyone’s toilet flushes flow through sewer lines to the same place – a community’s wastewater treatment plant.
Each treatment plant collects samples that experts at UC Davis and UC Merced analyze for genetic markers of the virus that causes COVID-19.
UC Davis and the City of Davis started testing wastewater for the virus when the pandemic first began. That effort expanded into Healthy Central Valley Together, a collaborative project among public health departments, communities, and UC Davis and UC Merced that works to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
