Cities Can Apply for Free Monitoring of Sewage for Signs of Monkeypox
![An aerial view of the East Bay Municipal Utility District Wastewater Treatment Plant on April 29, 2020 in Oakland, California.](https://cdn.route-fifty.com/media/img/cd/2022/08/05/sewagetreatmentRF080522/860x394.jpg?1659724869)
An aerial view of the East Bay Municipal Utility District Wastewater Treatment Plant on April 29, 2020 in Oakland, California. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Connecting state and local government leaders
The National League of Cities is accepting applications for the new program and will select 50 localities to participate. The initiative will build on efforts to track Covid-19 in wastewater.
Fifty local governments around the U.S. will gain access to free services to test their local wastewater for signs of monkeypox, as well as Covid-19 and other viruses, as part of a new initiative that the National League of Cities announced on Friday.
NLC is working in collaboration with scientists from Stanford and Emory universities, and Google affiliated Verily Life Sciences who have partnered on a project called WastewaterSCAN. The effort emerged out of the early days of the pandemic to identify traces of Covid-19 in sewage and determine where the virus was spreading. Since then, it's been expanded to monitor for other pathogens.
"This partnership’s work to expand access to wastewater monitoring tools and analysis will help cities, towns and villages across the country lead their response efforts to the monkeypox outbreak equipped with data and a network of support," NLC's CEO and Executive Director Clarence Anthony said in a statement.
Currently, 38 wastewater treatment plants in eight states are receiving monitoring data from WastewaterSCAN and a related project called SCAN—short for Sewer Coronavirus Alert Network. The monitoring covers Covid variants, as well monkeypox, flu and respiratory syncytial virus, a common illness that can cause cold-like symptoms.
The program providing free monitoring will run for one year and is open to cities and other localities with sewer districts that serve at least 50,000 people. Results of the testing will be shared online and NLC plans to release a related report on public health best practices. Local governments are encouraged to apply by Sept. 2.
More information about the program can be found here.
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