Eawag - Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology

Wastewater is full of information about our health and consumption patterns. Thanks to these traces, it can be used, among other things, as an early warning system for the spread of infectious diseases. Eawag is working to extend the method it developed with partners for monitoring SARS-CoV-2 to other pathogens. Another Eawag project is concerned with the monitoring of addictive substances such as alcohol, drugs, medicines and tobacco in wastewater.

Deep-frozen wastewater samples can also be analysed at a later date, provided that new methods need to be researched first. (Photo: Eawag, Esther Michel)

Wastewater monitoring became well known during the coronavirus period from 2020, when Eawag and its partners began monitoring whether and which coronaviruses could be detected in wastewater throughout Switzerland. However, the researchers are now able to make far more statements about the health of the population because other pathogens and traces of medicines and drugs are also being monitored in parallel. The combination of data from both programmes opens up new perspectives.