Wastewater surveillance is a cheap tool to spot health problems, but it is open to abuse
Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitaskMr Putin is right to pay attention to poo. The analysis of a city’s wastewater—the product, as some put it, of the “collective gut”—can provide all sorts of insights into the health and behaviour of its residents. Such surveillance is inclusive enough to sample all toilet users.
As the pandemic recedes the danger is that interest in wastewater surveillance does likewise. Britain’s effort was being wound down when this summer’s discovery of poliovirus in London sewage reignited interest. Dismantling such systems would be a mistake. As other sorts of covid-19 testing slow down, and as people become less likely to report symptoms, wastewater will become a more effective early-warning system for dangerous mutations.
It would also be wise to think about how exactly the resulting data will be used. As the dust settles, law-enforcement agencies may find that public-health authorities have installed and legitimised a tool that could help spot criminal behaviour. Anything from the consumption of illicit drugs to the handling of bomb ingredients could potentially be detected in sewage.
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