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Review
. 2020 Dec:38:101544.
doi: 10.1016/j.jwpe.2020.101544. Epub 2020 Jul 23.

The role of wastewater treatment plants as tools for SARS-CoV-2 early detection and removal

Alain Lesimple  1 , Saad Y Jasim  2 , Daniel J Johnson  3 , Nidal Hilal  1
Affiliations
Review

The role of wastewater treatment plants as tools for SARS-CoV-2 early detection and removal

Alain Lesimple et al. J Water Process Eng.2020 Dec.

Abstract

The world is facing the third coronavirus caused pandemic in less than twenty years. The SARS-CoV-2 virus not only affects the human respiratory system, but also the gastrointestinal tract. The virus has been found in human feces, in sewage and in wastewater treatment plants. It has the potential to become a panzootic disease, as it is now proven that several mammalian species become infected. Since it has been shown that the virus can be detected in sewage even before the onset of symptoms in the local population, Wastewater Based Epidemiology should be developed not only to localize infection clusters of the primary wave but also to detect a potential second, or subsequent, wave. To prevent a panzootic, virus removal techniques from wastewater need to be implemented to prevent the virus dissemination into the environment. In that context, this review presents recent improvements in all the fields of wastewater treatment from treatment ponds to the use of algae or nanomaterials with a particular emphasis on membrane-based techniques.

Keywords: COVID-19; Membranes; SARS-CoV-2; Virus; Wastewater; Wastewater-based epidemiology.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors of this manuscript declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Human virus relative size from https://viralzone.expasy.org/5216 [7].
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Timeline for SARS-CoV-2 shedding and detection https://viralzone.expasy.org/9116 [34].
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Transmission routes for pathogens in human and animals excreta. Adapted with permission from ref. [71].
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Comparison of water filtration membranes pore sizes with water contaminant sizes, reproduced from open source [144].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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