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    Tracking SARS-CoV-2 RNA through the Wastewater Treatment Process
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    • Hala Abu Ali
      Hala Abu Ali
      Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, Beer Sheva 8499000, Israel
      More by Hala Abu Ali
    • Karin Yaniv
      Karin Yaniv
      Avram and Stella Goldstein-Goren Department of Biotechnology Engineering and The Ilse Katz Center for Meso and Nanoscale Science and Technology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel
      More by Karin Yaniv
    • Edo Bar-Zeev
      Edo Bar-Zeev
      Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, Beer Sheva 8499000, Israel
      More by Edo Bar-Zeev
      Orcidhttp://orcid.org/0000-0001-6575-2068
    • Sanhita Chaudhury
      Sanhita Chaudhury
      Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, Beer Sheva 8499000, Israel
      More by Sanhita Chaudhury
      Orcidhttp://orcid.org/0000-0001-5874-5855
    • Marilou Shagan
      Marilou Shagan
      Avram and Stella Goldstein-Goren Department of Biotechnology Engineering and The Ilse Katz Center for Meso and Nanoscale Science and Technology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel
      More by Marilou Shagan
    • Satish Lakkakula
      Satish Lakkakula
      Avram and Stella Goldstein-Goren Department of Biotechnology Engineering and The Ilse Katz Center for Meso and Nanoscale Science and Technology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel
      More by Satish Lakkakula
      Orcidhttp://orcid.org/0000-0002-9994-4583
    • Zeev Ronen
      Zeev Ronen
      Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, Beer Sheva 8499000, Israel
      More by Zeev Ronen
      Orcidhttp://orcid.org/0000-0002-8399-4295
    • Ariel Kushmaro*
      Ariel Kushmaro
      Avram and Stella Goldstein-Goren Department of Biotechnology Engineering and The Ilse Katz Center for Meso and Nanoscale Science and Technology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel
      *Email: [email protected]
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    • Oded Nir*
      Oded Nir
      Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, Beer Sheva 8499000, Israel
      *Email: [email protected]
      More by Oded Nir
      Orcidhttp://orcid.org/0000-0003-2061-9188
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    ACS ES&T Water

    Cite this: ACS EST Water 2021, 1, 5, 1161–1167
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    https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestwater.0c00216
    Published April 7, 2021
    Copyright © 2021 American Chemical Society
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    Abstract

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    Municipal sewage carries degraded and intact viral particles and RNA (ribonucleic acid) of SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2), shed by COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) patients, to sewage and eventually to wastewater treatment plants. Proper wastewater treatment can prevent uncontrolled discharges of the virus into the environment. However, the role of different wastewater treatment stages in reducing viral RNA concentrations is, thus far, unknown. Here, we quantified SARS-CoV-2 RNA in raw sewage and during the main stages of the activated sludge process from two wastewater treatment plants in Israel, on three different days during the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak. To reduce the detection limit, samples were concentrated prior to quantification by real-time polymerase chain reaction by a factor of 2–43 using ultrafiltration. On average, ∼1 log RNA removal was attained by each of the primary and secondary treatment steps; however, >100 copies of SARS-CoV-2 RNA/mL remained in the secondary effluents. Following chlorination, SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected only once, likely due to an insufficient chlorine dose. Our results emphasize the capabilities and limitations of the conventional wastewater treatment process in reducing the SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentration and present preliminary evidence for the importance of tertiary treatment and chlorination in reducing dissemination of the virus to the environment.

    Copyright © 2021 American Chemical Society

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    The Supporting Information is available free of charge at https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsestwater.0c00216.

    • Materials and methods involved, characteristics of the target WWTPs and numbers of COVID cases therein, a detailed description of sewage sample collection, and processing and analysis of sewage by RT-PCR (PDF)

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    This article is cited by 37 publications.

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    ACS ES&T Water

    Cite this: ACS EST Water 2021, 1, 5, 1161–1167
    Click to copy citationCitation copied!
    https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestwater.0c00216
    Published April 7, 2021
    Copyright © 2021 American Chemical Society
    Request reuse permissions

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