Sewage: An Untapped Wealth of Data

Scientists from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee are using raw sewage samples to learn a great deal of information about a city’s population. UWM researchers, in conjunction with colleagues at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA, determined that the bacteria found in raw sewage is similar to those found in the gastro-intestinal tracks of people from the community - that the sewage provides an accurate picture of community health. Sampling the guts of thousands of individuals is prohibitively expensive, but this new approach of monitoring sewage would allow public health officials and other interested parties to look at an entire city at once.

Scientists from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee are using raw sewage samples to learn a great deal of information about a city’s population. UWM researchers, in conjunction with colleagues at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA, determined that the bacteria found in raw sewage is similar to those found in the gastro-intestinal tracks of people from the community - that the sewage provides an accurate picture of community health. Sampling the guts of thousands of individuals is prohibitively expensive, but this new approach of monitoring sewage would allow public health officials and other interested parties to look at an entire city at once.

The UMW scientist looked specifically at bacteria indicating obesity from samples from 71 cities and counties in 31 states. Using CDC data as a reference, the researchers were able to differentiate between the leanest and most obese cities with nearly 90 percent accuracy according to the study published last month in mBio, the American Society for Microbiology's open-access journal. The most common microorganisms in residents were also the most common in sewage, said Ryan Newton, a visiting professor at UWM’s School of Freshwater Sciences. In theory, Newton said, public health and water quality scientists could monitor the appearance of a virus or other health problems before they became widespread. The study was made possible by computer advances that allow scientists to rapidly sequence microbial populations. The UWM scientists are not alone.

The Underworlds project from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is currently studying sewage for concentrations of viruses such as influenza and polio; bacterial pathogens that cause cholera, typhoid fever, and other diseases; and biochemical molecules ranging from antibiotics to illegal drugs like cocaine and methamphetamine. The scientists are hoping to use the data to better predict health trends in specific communities and better target public health campaigns.

Sources: Mother Jones, UWM