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Wastewater-Based Epidemiology (WBE) Research, 2nd Edition

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Water and One Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 May 2026 | Viewed by 5190

Special Issue Editors

College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
Interests: wastewater-based epidemiology; emerging contaminants; biomarker; health risk assessments; early warning of infectious disease; monitoring substances of abuse; PPCPs
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Guest Editor
Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Interests: new biomarkers for WBE; new application of WBE; method uncertainties; COVID-19; pathogens
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE), through analysing relevant biomarkers in wastewater, can provide near-real-time information on the level of consumption or exposure to a range of chemicals and pathogens experienced by the population living within target catchment boundaries. This approach has been developed and applied for more than a decade and started with the monitoring of illicit drug use around the world. WBE has been adopted by authorities and policy makers to find evidence and formulate drug control strategies.

In recent years, particularly since 2020, the use of WBE has expanded into both risk assessments of the consumption, use, exposure, or release of chemicals and early warnings about infectious disease spread and antibiotic resistance at the community level. There have been thousands of WBE studies on COVID-19 monitoring published in the last two years. Despite this success, many challenges still prevent WBE from reaching its full potential as a complementary monitoring tool for epidemiological studies of human health. This Special Issue welcomes both original research papers and systematic reviews on various aspects of WBE, from the application of this approach in new areas with special demographics to exploratory studies advancing the science of this field. We encourage the submission of interdisciplinary work and collaborative research that identify new biomarkers for WBE and triangulate WBE data with other data sources. We also encourage the submission of manuscripts that focus on COVID-19 and other pathogens.

Dr. Peng Du
Dr. Phong Thai
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • new biomarkers for WBE
  • new applications of WBE
  • early warning of infectious disease
  • monitoring substances of abuse
  • method uncertainties
  • health risk assessments

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 2761 KB  
Article
Effectiveness, Feasibility and Seasonality of Subsewershed Disease Surveillance in Socially and Economically Diverse Areas of Cincinnati, Ohio, in 2023 and 2024; Insights from Laboratory and Rapid Testing Analysis
by Dustin Servello, Hila Korach-Rechtman, Scott M. Bessler, David Partridge, Carrie Turner, Michelle White, Zuzana Bohrerova, Jill Stiverson, Purnima Chalasani, Justin Kellar, Erica Leasure, Sviatlana Haubner, Swairah Rehman, Kim Wright and Maryse Amin
Water 2026, 18(2), 158; https://doi.org/10.3390/w18020158 - 7 Jan 2026
Viewed by 786
Abstract
Wastewater surveillance gained popularity as a tool supporting public health decision-making during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, we monitored four distinct socially vulnerable communities in Cincinnati, Ohio, by monitoring four subsewersheds using 15 upstream locations over two time periods: spring/summer (2023) and [...] Read more.
Wastewater surveillance gained popularity as a tool supporting public health decision-making during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, we monitored four distinct socially vulnerable communities in Cincinnati, Ohio, by monitoring four subsewersheds using 15 upstream locations over two time periods: spring/summer (2023) and fall/winter (2023–2024). The goal of our study was to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of monitoring wastewater in socially and economically diverse subsewersheds. A number of 24 h composite samples were collected twice a week and analyzed for SARS-CoV-2 viral loads in the four subsewersheds and two wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Wastewater quality parameters (electric conductivity, pH, temperature, ORP) were also measured continuously. During the fall/winter period, increased clinical cases were correlated with high SARS-CoV-2 viral concentrations indicated by both subsewershed and WWTP monitoring. In our study, subsewershed monitoring did not provide early warning of SARS-CoV-2 levels in wastewater and cases compared to WWTP wastewater monitoring during the fall/winter period when outbreaks with higher pathogen levels often occur. This was possibly due to the proximity of the selected subsewersheds to the WWTPs. Although two socially vulnerable subsewersheds had higher SARS-CoV-2 viral concentrations in wastewater, the most vulnerable subsewershed had the lowest wastewater concentrations and the lowest number of reported cases during our study. Therefore, social vulnerability is not always the best predictor of the community COVID-19 burden since other factors may play a role in community infection, including transiency and population age distribution. This study presents some challenges and important findings from subsewershed SARS-CoV-2 wastewater monitoring during two seasons in Ohio. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wastewater-Based Epidemiology (WBE) Research, 2nd Edition)
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16 pages, 1682 KB  
Article
Wastewater Surveillance for Benzodiazepines in Wuhu, China: Occurrence, Removal, and Consumption Patterns
by Menglin Zhao, Zhu Zhu, Ruyue Zhang, Ke Ma, Lingrong Zhang, Dandan Li and Peng Du
Water 2025, 17(8), 1204; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17081204 - 17 Apr 2025
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3857
Abstract
Benzodiazepines (BZDs), potent sedative and hypnotic drugs widely prescribed in psychiatry, pose a high risk of dependence and are globally abused. This study used wastewater-based epidemiology to investigate the consumption patterns of BZDs across four wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Wuhu, China. A [...] Read more.
Benzodiazepines (BZDs), potent sedative and hypnotic drugs widely prescribed in psychiatry, pose a high risk of dependence and are globally abused. This study used wastewater-based epidemiology to investigate the consumption patterns of BZDs across four wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Wuhu, China. A total of 16 BZDs and three metabolites were detected in influents and effluents, with concentrations reaching up to 90 ng/L (quetiapine fumarate) and 18.4 ng/L (diazepam). Most BZDs had a poor removal efficiency except quetiapine fumarate (>98% removal). The consumptions of BZDs in WWTPs ranged from <0.02 (lormetazepam) to 2700 mg/day/1000 people (quetiapine fumarate). Seasonal variation was found in BZD usage, where the consumptions in winter and spring were significantly higher than those in summer and autumn. It was worth noting that nimetazepam may be abused during the sampling campaign. Urban areas with higher housing prices match higher BZD consumption, correlating with greater stress and insomnia rates. This study reveals the relationship between socioeconomic factors and BZD consumption patterns, provide a new path to addressing community public health. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wastewater-Based Epidemiology (WBE) Research, 2nd Edition)
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