Wastewater surveillance can provide an early warning of COVID-19’s spread in communities.

In September 2020, the CDC launched the National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS) to coordinate and build the nation’s capacity to track the presence of the virus that causes COVID-19, in wastewater samples collected across the country. Sampling efforts around the country have determined that by measuring COVID-19 in wastewater on a routine basis allows predictive trends to be observed.