{"id":60586,"date":"2025-08-24T13:14:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T07:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=60586"},"modified":"2025-08-25T11:37:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T06:07:13","slug":"uses-of-wastewater-surveillance-for-public-health-and-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/uses-of-wastewater-surveillance-for-public-health-and-environment\/","title":{"rendered":"Uses of Wastewater Surveillance for Public Health and Environment"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: 35px; font-style: inherit;\">Wastewater Surveillance Uses Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> will launch wastewater surveillance for <\/span><b>10 viruses<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> across <\/span><b>50 cities<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the next six months.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Currently operational in five cities, the initiative aims to <\/span><b>detect early signs of virus spread and growth trends<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, enabling timely public health interventions.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>About Wastewater<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wastewater is any water that has been affected by human use.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It comes from a variety of sources, including households (think sinks, showers, and toilets), industries, and agricultural processes.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Essentially, it\u2019s the used water that needs to be cleaned before it can be safely released back into the environment or reused.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>ICMR\u2019s Plan for Expanded Wastewater Surveillance<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Over the next six months, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) will scale up wastewater and environmental surveillance (WES) across India to detect early rises in virus load within communities.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At present, <\/span><b>COVID-19 and polio are under watch<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, but the system will now monitor <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">pathogens linked to fever, diarrhoea, acute encephalitis syndrome, and respiratory distress<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ICMR is also setting up surveillance for <\/span><b>Avian Influenza Virus (AIV<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) by testing surface water and wastewater in outbreak-prone regions, creating an early warning system.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This will complement India\u2019s existing surveillance networks for Influenza-Like Illness (ILI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) under ICMR and the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Importance of Wastewater Surveillance<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The ICMR highlights that India, like many countries, faces rising <\/span><b>emergence and re-emergence of pathogens<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> due to population growth, urbanisation, environmental changes, and human-animal interactions.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this context, <\/span><b>Wastewater-Based Epidemiology (WBE)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has emerged as a vital tool for <\/span><b>early detection of disease outbreaks<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, especially after COVID-19.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">WBE provides real-time, community-level insights into infection trends, including among asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic individuals, enabling timely public health interventions.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a <\/span><b>cost-effective, non-invasive method<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that covers large populations, helps identify <\/span><b>transmission hotspots<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and supports efficient resource allocation for containment.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By detecting pathogens such as viruses and bacteria in human waste, WBE strengthens global health security by predicting and mitigating future pandemics before clinical cases appear.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Working of Wastewater Surveillance<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), people infected with viruses or bacteria, even if asymptomatic, shed traces of pathogens through daily activities like using the toilet, showering, or washing clothes.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These fragments travel through the sewage system, where <\/span><b>wastewater samples are collected before treatment<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and sent to laboratories for testing.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Within five to seven days, labs can detect infections circulating in the community.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Public health officials then use this data to track disease trends and guide interventions such as prevention measures, increased testing, or vaccination drives.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Wider Applications of Wastewater Surveillance<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beyond disease detection, wastewater surveillance also helps identify <\/span><b>land-based sources of pollution, contributing valuable data for protecting freshwater and marine ecosystems and maintaining essential ecosystem services<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/emission-gap-report\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> notes that this approach strengthens both health systems and environmental management, though greater efforts are needed to expand and standardise such practices for effective water quality monitoring.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/world-health-organisation\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">World Health Organization (WHO)<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is similarly working to build global capacity for wastewater and environmental surveillance, highlighting its <\/span><b>dual role in public health protection and environmental sustainability<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source:<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/sci-tech\/science\/what-are-the-uses-of-wastewater-surveillance-explained\/article69969344.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">TH<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> | <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.unep.org\/topics\/ocean-seas-and-coasts\/ecosystem-degradation-pollution\/wastewater\/wastewater-surveillance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">UNEP<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wastewater Surveillance detects pathogens early, aids pandemic readiness, traces pollution, and supports sustainable health and environment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":60644,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[60,22,59,2320],"class_list":{"0":"post-60586","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"tag-mains-articles","9":"tag-upsc-current-affairs","10":"tag-upsc-mains-current-affairs","11":"tag-wastewater-surveillance-uses","12":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60586\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}