The City of Lawrence is a new participant in a nationwide initiative to monitor infectious diseases, including COVID-19 and monkeypox, in wastewater. The study will measure viral genetic material in wastewater from the Kansas River Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The program is part of the Wastewater Sewer Coronavirus Alert Network (WastewaterSCAN) that is being led by researchers at Stanford University and Emory University. The City is working with Verily Life Sciences for the sampling program for this project. Data will be available on an online public dashboard at Verily Public Health. You can follow these links to see City of Lawrence data on monkeypox and COVID-19.
Throughout the pandemic, the City participated in a Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) funded program coordinated through the University of Kansas that tested wastewater for the virus that causes COVID-19. The sampling was discontinued at the end of the state’s fiscal year, which was June 30, 2022. Prior to the KDHE-funded program, the City worked directly with the University of Kansas.
“We’re fortunate to have an opportunity to continue our efforts to assist Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health and our community with access to wastewater surveillance data,” said Trevor Flynn, Municipal Services & Operations Assistant Director. “We have been monitoring wastewater throughout the pandemic and are looking forward to working with Verily on this national project that goes even further. The publicly available dataset will be valuable in helping our public health agencies evaluate infectious diseases here locally as compared to national trends.”
For additional information on the study, you can read the press release from the WastewaterSCAN research team.
Media inquiries can be directed to the project team, including Jill Wu (jillwu@stanford.edu) and Joseph Garcia (joseph.garcia@gmmb.com).
Contact: Porter Arneill, director of communications and creative resources, parneill@lawrenceks.org