Wastewater Surveillance

Image of a magnified virus particle and the logos of Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services and the University of Missouri, with the title Missouri's Wastewater Surveillance Program

When people have an illness, they can shed virus or bacteria into wastewater. Shedding can happen even when a person doesn’t have any symptoms or before they begin showing symptoms. Because of this, wastewater testing can provide valuable information about community health. Wastewater testing can show early signs of when illness is present and spreading in a community.

Image illustrates the steps of wastewater surveillance. Pieces of virus or bacteria enter the wastewater, wastewater is sampled before treatment, laboratory detects pieces of virus or bacteria in sample, then data is analyzed for trends to inform communities.

For wastewater surveillance, wastewater is sampled each week at many wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) across the state. The samples are then tested for the viruses that cause illness. Currently, these include COVID-19 and flu viruses. The testing results are in the dashboard below.

Picture of a wastewater settling basin
A wastewater settling basin

Picture of a manhole with a hut attached ready for wastewater sampling
A manhole set up for taking samples

Data Dashboard

Image of a bar and line chart with the title Wastewater Surveillance Dashboard, which leads to the data dashboard when clicked

Wastewater Surveillance Dashboard – Find out more about the Wastewater Surveillance Program and current data on COVID-19 and influenza in Missouri.

Additional Resources