10 The public health benefits, and limitations, of wastewater surveillance
Channel: BetaNYC
Date: 2023-04-18

NYC School of Data 2023 - March 18 2023 

10 The public health benefits, and limitations, of wastewater surveillance

Hon. Gale Brewer, Council Member, New York City Council
Betsy Ladyzhets, Science/health journalist, MuckRock, Freelance
Kartik Chandran, Professor of Earth and Environmental Engineering, Columbia University in the City of New York

During the COVID-19 pandemic, wastewater surveillance has emerged as a way to track the coronavirus and numerous other public health threats, ranging from stomach bugs to opioid use. New York City was one of the first places in the U.S. to set up a sewage testing program in early 2020, and has since expanded its efforts from COVID-19 to monkeypox and polio. This session will explore why wastewater surveillance is such a valuable tool for monitoring a variety of health issues, and how New Yorkers can utilize the current wastewater data shared on the city’s OpenData portal – along with further data that may be shared if pending city legislation is passed.

Wastewater surveillance has proven its value for tracking COVID-19 in the last year as fewer people get swabbed for PCR tests, making case numbers less reliable. Through testing sewage at NYC’s wastewater treatment plants, the environmental and health departments can see how disease is spreading across the entire city with just 14 samples. While health officials are still working to determine how best to interpret these results, experts say the program could help direct health resources to specific neighborhoods, trace concerning outbreaks to their sources and even catch emerging viruses.

In NYC, a pending City Council bill would make the wastewater surveillance program permanent and require the health department to report data on a public dashboard. Meanwhile, New York State’s health department is expanding a state-wide program to cover more diseases and sites. These local initiatives are part of a global movement to better track our health through sewage and make the data public.

PLAYLIST https://bit.ly/nycSOdata2023

ABOUT NYC SCHOOL OF DATA 2023
NYC School of data is a community driven conference with a focus on open data, civic technology, and service design. https://beta.nyc/2023/03/07/nyc-school-of-data-2023-is-here/
This year’s event celebrates the 11th anniversary of the City’s transformative open data law and concludes NYC Open Data Week 2023. https://www.open-data.nyc/

ABOUT BETA NYC
BetaNYC is a civic organization dedicated to improving lives in New York through civic design, technology, and data. We envision an informed and empowered public that can leverage civic design, technology, and data to hold government accountable, and improve their economic opportunity. https://beta.nyc/

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