About
Healthy Central Valley Together (HCVT) began in Summer 2021 when partnerships were established between public health departments, wastewater facilities, and researchers at the University of California campuses in Davis and Merced. Together, we are using wastewater to generate data on community prevalence of COVID-19, flu, RSV and other diseases that informs public health action in Merced, Stanislaus, and Yolo counties.
HCVT adopted the highly sensitive wastewater monitoring approach and methods developed by WastewaterSCAN based at Stanford University. The project also builds on the wastewater monitoring program of Healthy Davis Together (HDT).
Lead Researchers
Heather N. Bischel
University of California, Davis
Dr. Heather N. Bischel is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Davis. Bischel’s research aims to support public and environmental health through safe and effective water and wastewater management. In 2020, Bischel launched the wastewater-based disease surveillance program of Healthy Davis Together (HDT), a collaboration between the City of Davis and UC Davis to combat COVID-19. HDT’s wastewater-based epidemiology program’s overall success has earned national recognition, including mentions in WIRED, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.
Colleen Naughton
University of California, Merced
Dr. Colleen C. Naughton is an Assistant Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Merced. Her lab co-designs sustainable and culturally sensitive Food-Energy-Water Systems for the underserved nationally and globally. Dr. Naughton is the Principal Investigator behind the COVIDPoops19 global wastewater monitoring dashboard and Twitter account @COVIDPoops19. She is part of the Healthy Central Valley Together project expanding COVID-19 wastewater testing in the Central Valley of California for greater health equity. Dr. Naughton is also part of Wastewater SPHERE, a global data center for wastewater and SARS-CoV-2.
Relevant Research
- The need of an environmental justice approach for wastewater based epidemiology for rural and disadvantaged communities: A review in California
- Monitoring Wastewater To Inform COVID-19 Public Health Response: A guide to methods and lessons learned from Healthy Davis Together’s experience in Davis, CA
- Wastewater surveillance for COVID-19 response at multiple geographic scales: Aligning wastewater and clinical results at the census-block level and addressing pervasiveness of qPCR non-detects
Media
ABC10
Wastewater testing in Yolo, Merced and Stanislaus counties to help stay ahead of next viral outbreak
Read MoreThe Modesto Bee
Virus that brings severe vomiting, diarrhea found in Stanislaus. Here are steps to avoid it
Read MoreThe Modesto Bee
COVID-19 in real time: Residents of Modesto, Turlock, other cities can see data for free
Read MoreThe BMJ
What poo tells us: wastewater surveillance comes of age amid covid, monkeypox, and polio
Read MoreKCRA-TV