Georgia National Wastewater Surveillance System (GA NWSS)

The Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) is participating in the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Health and Human Services (HHS) National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS). Starting in April 2022, DPH began conducting weekly wastewater sampling to better understand COVID-19 trends in Georgia. The GA NWSS program serves as an additional tool in the surveillance of known and emerging pathogens and contributes to the growing field of wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE). When used alongside case-based data, wastewater surveillance can provide insight into community-level transmission of pathogens such as COVID-19, Influenza, Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) and many more.

Curious how wastewater surveillance works?

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The Georgia NWSS Program is a collaboration between the Georgia Department of Public Health, Georgia Public Health Laboratory (GPHL), local public health departments, Emory University Rollins School of Public Health & University of Georgia wastewater surveillance researchers, wastewater treatment facilities, and other community and industry partners.

The wastewater surveillance data below are best understood alongside case-based surveillance data. If you are interested in learning more about methods used, please see the most recent reports below. Georgia wastewater surveillance data, as well as all other funded states, can be viewed on CDC’s COVID Data Tracker.  

GA NWSS Wastewater Surveillance Reports

Weekly Reports

DPH is onboarding wastewater treatment facilities on a rolling basis into the NWSS program. Participation in the GA NWSS program includes:

  1. Timely access to raw, normalized, and visualized data, depending on your facility or county’s needs.
  2. Shipping supplies and sample pickup coordination at no cost. 
  3. Active partnership between state and local public health, wastewater treatment facilities, and Academic and Public institutions

If you are a wastewater treatment facility that is interested in learning more or participating in the NWSS program, please fill out this Short Survey 

You should hear from an NWSS team member within 1-2 business days; if you do not, please reach out to [email protected].

 

Published 5/17/23