TY - JOUR
T1 - Simulated 2017 nationwide sampling at 13,940 major U.S. sewage treatment plants to assess seasonal population bias in wastewater-based epidemiology
AU - Hart, Olga E.
AU - Halden, Rolf U.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the J.M. Kaplan Foundation [OneWaterOneHealth nonprofit project 30009070 of the ASU Foundation] and by the Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust [award LTR 05/01/12]. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the sponsors.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/7/20
Y1 - 2020/7/20
N2 - Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) is an economical technique for monitoring and managing the health and behavior of human populations. Using 2017 nationwide data on geospatial population demographics as a test case, we simulated repeated sampling at all major U.S. wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs; n = 13,940) under constant biomarker loading conditions, to explore the potential sensitivity of WBE for generating skewed data. Simulation of repeated sewage sampling over all four seasons of 2017 yielded a number of expected, inter-dependent phenomena triggered by cooler wintertime temperatures compared to summertime results, including relatively (i) slower in-sewer biomarker decay, (ii) longer distal reach of WBE, (iii) larger effective sewershed monitoring areas, and (iv) an increase in the population represented. Additional important but not necessarily anticipated simulation outcomes included (v) distinct, non-random changes in demographic parameters of monitored subpopulations (e.g., by household income, educational attainment, military service, unemployment, and lack of health insurance), (vi) recurring observation of the latter demographic patterns across various geospatial scales and regions, and (vii) more evenly distributed results in the winter. In contrast, data obtainable by WBE in the summertime were dominated by households residing closest to the WWTP and subpopulations of relatively lesser wealth, educational achievement, healthcare access and employability. The analytical approach presented here should be readily applicable to other regions worldwide and may help to improve the design, robustness and interpretation of future WBE studies.
AB - Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) is an economical technique for monitoring and managing the health and behavior of human populations. Using 2017 nationwide data on geospatial population demographics as a test case, we simulated repeated sampling at all major U.S. wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs; n = 13,940) under constant biomarker loading conditions, to explore the potential sensitivity of WBE for generating skewed data. Simulation of repeated sewage sampling over all four seasons of 2017 yielded a number of expected, inter-dependent phenomena triggered by cooler wintertime temperatures compared to summertime results, including relatively (i) slower in-sewer biomarker decay, (ii) longer distal reach of WBE, (iii) larger effective sewershed monitoring areas, and (iv) an increase in the population represented. Additional important but not necessarily anticipated simulation outcomes included (v) distinct, non-random changes in demographic parameters of monitored subpopulations (e.g., by household income, educational attainment, military service, unemployment, and lack of health insurance), (vi) recurring observation of the latter demographic patterns across various geospatial scales and regions, and (vii) more evenly distributed results in the winter. In contrast, data obtainable by WBE in the summertime were dominated by households residing closest to the WWTP and subpopulations of relatively lesser wealth, educational achievement, healthcare access and employability. The analytical approach presented here should be readily applicable to other regions worldwide and may help to improve the design, robustness and interpretation of future WBE studies.
KW - Demographics
KW - Modeling
KW - Spatial analysis
KW - Wastewater epidemiology
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U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138406
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138406
M3 - Article
C2 - 32334208
AN - SCOPUS:85083464951
SN - 0048-9697
VL - 727
JO - Science of the Total Environment
JF - Science of the Total Environment
M1 - 138406
ER -