#wastewater monitoring

[liminalweirdo]

Ottawa's COVID wastewater surveillance program extended for another year (but not in the rest of Ontario)

After the Health Canada ordered all previous vaccines destroyed, leaving Canadians without any covid vaccines for weeks, many Canadians have been "asking why it is taking so long for Health Canada to approve new vaccines."

[...] The United States expedited the process and approved the updated mRNA vaccines in August. They were made available almost immediately because of the ongoing COVID wave that has killed up to 1,000 Americans in recent weeks. The vaccines are also approved in Europe. Attaran said there are provisions that would allow Canada’s health minister to approve the vaccines immediately if they have been approved in the U.S. Attaran said he planned to take his family to the U.S. to get vaccinated with the updated shots — at a cost of $200 per vaccine."

But now, at least, thanks to CHEO, the CHEO Research Institute, the University of Ottawa and Ottawa Public Health announced an extension of wastewater surveillance on Friday (no thanks to the provincial government), which gives people in the community at least some autonomy to check and estimate covid risk level, instead of what we were forced to do before: wade through the veritable viral soup outside with our fingers crossed, apparently

Ottawa will be one of the few communities in Ontario where wastewater surveillance continues after the provincial government cut funding for the program early, with little advance notice, at the end of July.

[civicainfrastructure]

CLI-ECA Regulation Compliance Services

Ensure compliance with CLI-ECA regulations effortlessly with our comprehensive services tailored for municipalities and land developers. We specialize in wastewater management and monitoring, offering a full spectrum of solutions including inflow and infiltration (I/I) projects, land development engineering, municipal class EA studies, asset management planning, hydrologic and hydraulic modeling, stormwater management, flow and rainfall monitoring, and CCTV sewer and drainage inspection services. Partner with us to seamlessly navigate regulatory requirements and optimize your development projects.

[intelligentchristianlady]

PSA. You're welcome

[stephenist]

Source

CDC Wastewater Viral Activity Monitoring

BreatheTeq

[jack85200]

It will not be untrue to say that all the industries in current times are coinciding with the environmental field. With the stringent environmental regulations, industries are being pushed to follow methodologies that are more environment friendly. IOT-based systems come into the picture for these analyses and monitoring. Zero waste discharge, recycling, and green approach are a few terminologies that shed light on the qualitative standard of any industry. In this context, mining and metallurgical processes discard the most harmful and toxic waste. Regardless of the toxicity, every industry discharges the wastewater following the regulations where it is being discarded. Water resource management, free-surface flows, and truly multiphase is Paanduv’s expertise.

Scour and sediment transport to model problems like flow through bridge pier, dredging, flows in river beds, and ocean are addressed and modeled with accuracy. 

Paanduv’s expertise in truly multiphase systems, free-surface flows, reactions, and chemical kinetics makes us the best candidate for 3D modeling of these processes.

read more about - water and environment

[chriswu08]

Wastewater Treatment Monitoring Modbus RTU to 4G wireless Acquisition Control RTU S275

1.Background

The entire system of traditional sewage treatment equipment is operated by an automatic control system. Various parameters such as water output, water quality, pool water level, and PH value cannot be obtained, and faults can only be discovered through personnel inspections.

The oxygen content of the biological contact oxidation tank, the operating status of the blower, the liquid level and turbidity of the sedimentation tank, the operating status of the return pump, and the operating status of the aerator cannot be remotely monitored or controlled.

2. Program overview

The BLIIOT technology sewage treatment monitoring system is a cloud-based integrated monitoring cloud service platform for the Internet of Things. The platform can be adapted to various sensor equipment, monitor and manage the status and operation of the access equipment in real time, and remotely operate the equipment. , through the cloud platform docking terminal equipment to achieve accurate perception, precise operation, and fine management, providing a one-stop cloud IoT platform that is stable, reliable, and low-cost maintenance.

Real-time monitoring

When the device is connected to the cloud platform, the latest data can be viewed in real time, and real-time monitoring is more assured.

Remote control

Remotely issue commands through the cloud platform to deal with emergencies urgently.

Abnormal alarm

When an abnormal situation occurs, users can be notified through various channels to ensure that the alarm information is delivered in real time.

Data Analysis

Combined with the big data of the Internet of Things, trend analysis and risk early warning assessment are carried out for equipment data.

Large screen data display

The Internet of Things system can be monitored online and remotely controlled on the computer PC, mobile APP, and large screen.

3. Solution advantag

Support real-time video monitoring;

Multiple notifications ensure that the alarm information is delivered on time;

Triggers can be set for pre-management;

Emergency disposal, rapid response to remote disposal in case of emergency;

Multi-point monitoring, the same account can monitor multiple devices at the same time;

No distance limit, using the mature golden pigeon cloud platform + 4G transmission global monitoring;

Historical record preservation, the platform saves historical data for up to half a year, and supports the download and export of historical records;

Comprehensive monitoring of water level, water flow, water temperature, residual chlorine, oxygen content and other equipment operating parameters.

It is suitable for sewage treatment equipment manufacturing units, sewage treatment equipment maintenance units, sewage treatment units, etc.

4. Conclusion

The impact of industrial Internet of Things technology on rural sewage reconstruction projects is of great significance.In the Internet of Things + remote monitoring operation and management model, it is applied to the remote management of distributed domestic sewage treatment equipment in rural areas, providing users with standardized information management models for key businesses such as water quality monitoring, safety management, and data analysis and planning. Integrate and analyze all process information such as operation, improve user management efficiency and production efficiency, and provide support for energy saving and emission reduction, process improvement, and smooth and intelligent management. Multiple sewage treatment plants transmit the operating data of sewage treatment plant equipment to the monitoring center in real time through 4G communications, realizing centralized "one-stop" monitoring and distributed management of the Internet of Things.

[inflagrante-delicatessen]

&&

[tzifron]

Worldwide, there were more than 11,000 reported deaths from COVID between mid-December 2023 and mid-January 2024, and more than half of those deaths occurred in the U.S. In that same time frame, nearly one million cases were reported to the World Health Organization globally (although reduced testing and reporting means this is likely a vast undercount). In particular, epidemiologists are monitoring the newest variant of SARS-CoV-2, JN.1, and looking for any signs that it may be more severe than previous strains.

Although the WHO declared an end to the COVID public health emergency in May 2023, the organization has emphasized that the pandemic isn’t over—it’s just entered an endemic phase, which means that the virus will continue to circulate indefinitely.

[...]

How would you describe the overall state of COVID at this point in the pandemic?

COVID’s not in the news every day, but it’s still a global health risk. If we look at wastewater estimates, the actual circulation [of SARS-CoV-2] is somewhere between two and 20 times higher than what’s actually being reported by countries. The virus is rampant. We’re still in a pandemic. There’s a lot of complacency at the individual level, and more concerning to me is that at the government level.

[...]

"We understand you don’t want to hear about it. I don’t want to talk about it. But we need to because there’s more we can do. We cannot prevent all infections. We cannot prevent all deaths. But there’s a hell of a lot more that we can do to keep people safe and save them from losing a loved one"

[batboyblog]

Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week. #5

Feb 9-16 2024

The Department of Education released the first draft for a wide ranging student loan forgiveness plan. After Biden's first attempt at student debt forgiveness was struck down at the Supreme Court in 2023, this new plan is an attempt to replace it with something that will hold up in court. The plan hopes to forgive debt for anyone facing "financial hardship" which has been as broadly defined as possible. Another part of the plan hopes to eliminate $10-20,000 in interest from all student loans, as well as a wide ranging public Information push to inform people of other forgiveness programs they qualify for but don't know about.

The House passed 1.2 Billion Dollars to combat human trafficking, including $175 million in housing assistance to human trafficking victims

The Department of Transportation announced $970 Million for improvements at 114 airports across 44 states and 3 territories. They include $40 million to O'Hare International in Chicago to improve passenger experience by reconfiguring TSA and baggage claims, and installing ADA compliant bathrooms(!). The loans will also go to connecting airports to mass transit, boosted sustainability, installing solar and wind power, and expanding service to under served committees around the country.

Medicare & Medicaid released new guidelines to allow people to pay out of pocket prescription drug coats in monthly installments rather than as a lump sum. This together with capping the price of certain drugs and penalties for drug companies that rise prices over inflation is expected to save the public millions on drug coasts and assure people don't pass on a prescription because they can't pay upfront

The EPA announced its adding 150 more communities to its Closing America's Wastewater Access Gap Community Initiative. 2.2 Million Americans do not have basic running water and indoor plumbing. Broken and unreliable wastewater infrastructure exposed many of those to dangerous raw sewage. These Americans live primarily in poor and rural communities, many predominantly Black communities in the south as well as those on tribal lands. The program is aiming to close the wastewater gap and insure all Americans have access to reliable clear water.

The White House announced deferred action for Palestinians in the US. This means any Palestinian living in the United States, no mater their legal status, can not be deported for any reason for the next 18 months.

The Department of Energy announced $60 million in investment into clean geothermal energy. The plan will hopefully lead to a 90% decrease in the coasts of geothermal. DOE estimates hold that geothermal might be able to power the hopes of 65 million Americans by 2050 making it a key step in the Biden administration plan for a carbon-free grid by 2035 and net-zero emissions by 2050.

The EPA launched $83 million to help improve air quality monitoring across America. With updated equipment local agencies will be better able to report on air quality, give more localized reports of bad air quality and the country will be better equipped to start mitigating the problem

The Department of Energy announced $63 million in investments in domestic heat-pump manufacturing. Studies have shown that heat-pumps reduce green house gases by 50% over the most efficient condensing gas boilers, as technology improves this could rise to 75% by 2030. Heat pump water heaters meanwhile are 2 to 3 times as energy efficient as conventional electric water heaters.

HHS awarded $5.1 million to organizations working with LGBTQI+ Youth and their Families. The programs focus on preventing homelessness, fighting depression and suicide, drug use and HIV prevention and treatment, as well as  family counseling and support interventions tailored for LGBTQI+ families.

The House passed two bills in support of the oppressed Uyghur minority in China. The "No Dollars To Uyghur Forced Labor" Act would prohibit the US government from spending any money on projects that source materials from Xinjiang. The Uyghur Policy Act would create a permanent post at the State Department to coordinate policy on Uyghur Issues, much like the special ambassador on antisemitism.

[gumjrop]

The Weather

In the US, 41 out of 54 states and territories are at high or very high COVID wastewater levels as of 1/18/2024. Ten states and territories have no data available. It’s important to note that levels of “moderate,” “low,” or “minimal” do not necessarily indicate a low risk of COVID exposure in our daily lives. Viral spread is still ongoing even if at lower levels, and precautions are warranted to protect ourselves and others.

Looking at the CDC’s national and regional wastewater data over time, we continue to see “Very High” levels nationally. It’s important to note that the last two weeks are provisional data, indicated by a gray shaded area on the graph, meaning that those values can change as additional wastewater sites report data. 

Although wastewater data does not provide the same level of detail as previous PCR-based testing data, wastewater monitoring is an important ongoing resource to inform us about the current COVID situation. While the provisional data tentatively shows a downward trend this week, time will tell whether this is a true decrease in the final data. A downward trend does not mean continued decreases are guaranteed or that protections should be relaxed. Multilayered protections help drive COVID spread lower, and relaxing protections can lead to a resurgence of viral spread.

Visit the CDC’s State and Territory Trends page to see available wastewater testing near you, including the number of wastewater sites reporting. Write your elected officials to let them know you want to keep and expand wastewater testing in your area and nationally.

Wins

In November 2023, the CDC’s Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) passed a series of draft proposals that will further weaken already insufficient protocols employed within healthcare settings. HICPAC refuses to reckon with the airborne nature of infectious diseases such as SARS-CoV-2, and does not propose crucial measures such as universal masking with well-fitted respirators, isolation periods, and ventilation. The People’s CDC has penned a letter to the ACLU alerting them of HICPAC’s irresponsible decisions, and the ramifications associated with them. We hope that by working together with the ACLU, we can implement public advocacy and legal actions in order to tackle this critical issue.

You can read the full letter here.

Johns Hopkins reinstated healthcare masking on 1/12/2024, in response to high respiratory virus levels. As with many other healthcare systems and public health departments that have restored healthcare masking when facing public pressure, we hope that universal masking can become a standard of care rather than a short term response to a surge. See “Take Action” below for more information.

Variants

JN.1, now the most prominent variant in the United States, is estimated to account for 85.7% of circulating variants by 1/20/2024. HV.1 is expected to drop to 5.3%, and all other variants are estimated to make up less than 2% each. Although ongoing viral spread allows opportunities for new variants to emerge, the latest 2023-2024 COVID vaccine boosters, COVID tests, and COVID treatments are still expected to be effective for JN.1.

Current updated booster uptake is low (as of January 19, 2024, the CDC reports that only 21.5% of adults and 11% of children have received it). It is not too late to get the updated booster, and to protect yourself against the latest variant! 

Hospitalizations

In the most recent week (ending January 13, 2024), we see a slight downward trend in new hospital admissions, currently at 32,861. We see a similar slight downtick in currently hospitalized patients with COVID , at 27,879. This most recent week shows a slight decrease in hospitalizations, although it is too soon to say whether hospitalizations for the current surge have passed their peak. Hospitals continue to be overwhelmed. The data also lacks information on hospital-acquired infections. We urge you to continue taking stringent precautions, such as donning a well-fitting respirator (e.g., N95, KN95) in all indoor spaces–and especially in healthcare settings.

Long COVID

Amid ongoing advocacy by Long COVID groups, the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) held a committee hearing on “Addressing Long COVID: Advancing Research and Improving Patient Care.” The hearing included testimony from three Long COVID patients and four Long COVID physicians and researchers, bringing much-needed attention to the urgent need for funding for Long COVID research and treatments, and to the need for improved access to care for Long COVID patients. We recognize the community care modeled by some of the panelists and attendees who wore masks for the hearing, and we wish the senators on the committee would mask up as well. 

Take Action

Write your elected officials to let them know that Long COVID impacts all of us, and that we need ongoing support for Long COVID research and clinical care. Ask Senators to support bill S.2560, the Long COVID Support Act. Ask Representatives to support bills HR.1114 (Long COVID RECOVERY NOW Act) and HR.3258 (TREAT Long COVID Act).

Although some healthcare settings have reinstated masking in response to high COVID levels along with high respiratory virus activity, ongoing pressure is needed to restore, keep, and expand masking broadly. Use our letter template and toolkit to call or write your elected officials in support of healthcare masking.

Want to do more to support healthcare masking? Consider starting, sharing, or joining a local campaign. Check out work in Illinois, Maryland, and Wisconsin, just to name a few. Also, sign and share our letter to the ACLU asking them to join us in supporting safe and equitable access to healthcare. Sign on is open until 2/1/2024. 

[civicainfrastructure]

Flow And Rainfall Monitoring Services

Flow and rainfall monitoring services are essential for various applications, including water resource management, flood forecasting, agricultural planning, and environmental protection.

[wumblr]

hey i know we all know i don't want to be an alarmist but covid in indiana wastewater monitoring has surpassed omicron peak. if you're not in the ~36% of the population fully vaccinated with new 2023 booster you might want to get on that today

[allthecanadianpolitics]

A whole host of disasters waiting to happen. This is conservative "governance".

Remember when Mike Harris decided to stop monitoring water quality in Ontario?

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/i-was-shocked-ontario-to-cancel-widely-used-wastewater-surveillance-program

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved in our archive

By Jess Thomson

Wastewater samples across several U.S. states have tested "very high" or "high" for levels of SARS-CoV-2—the virus that causes COVID-19.

Between November 3 and November 9, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) detected "very high" levels of COVID-19 in New Mexico, with "high" levels found in Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota.

"Moderate" levels were detected across Idaho, Nebraska, Maine, Nevada, Maryland, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, and Missouri.

"Low" levels were found in 21 states, and "minimal" levels were detected in 14 states and D.C.

(Follow the link for the interative map!)

However, Arizona, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, and South Dakota all have limited coverage, meaning that "data for the most recent week are based on a small part (less than 5 percent) of the population and may not represent viral activity levels for the entire state," the CDC said. Additionally, North Dakota has no data for this period.

Between October 27 and November 2, wastewater sampling from New Mexico also had "very high" levels of the virus, but "high" levels were detected in Oregon, Arkansas, and Maine. The week prior, "very high" levels of viral activity were detected in Montana, with "high" levels in Arkansas, Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Wyoming.

Infected individuals shed the virus in their feces, often before showing symptoms or even if asymptomatic. Therefore, monitoring wastewater virus levels allows authorities to detect the presence of COVID-19 early, even before clinical cases are reported.

"Wastewater (sewage) can be tested to detect traces of infectious diseases circulating in a community, even if people don't have symptoms," the CDC states. "You can use these data as an early warning that levels of infections may be increasing or decreasing in your community."

Wastewater testing provides a snapshot of the overall infection levels in a community, regardless of individual testing rates, and is a way to monitor larger populations without needing to test each person.

However, the CDC notes that "states and territories may have a higher density of sampling sites in certain geographic areas, so the median wastewater viral activity level may not represent the wastewater viral activity level for every community in the state or territory."

CDC data shows that national COVID wastewater levels have dropped massively since the summer months, approaching the low rates seen in April. However, last winter there was a huge spike in wastewater levels, so there could be a similar trend this winter.

Wastewater testing can also help health authorities detect variants of the virus circulating in the population, providing information about the potential emergence of new strains.

As of November 9, the predominant subvariant, KP.3.1.1 made up 39 percent of COVID-19 cases in U.S. wastewater over the previous two weeks, while the new XEC variant accounted for 20 percent, according to the CDC. KP.3 made up 17 percent, JN.1 made up 11 percent, and "other" made up 12 percent.

"There is no evidence, and no particular reason to believe, that XEC causes different symptoms than all the other SARS-CoV-2 currently in circulation," Professor Francois Balloux, a computational systems biologist at University College London in England, previously told Newsweek. "XEC is not expected to cause more (or less) severe symptoms than other lineages currently in circulation."

The CDC lists symptoms of COVID-19 as including:

Fever or chills Cough Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing Sore throat Congestion or runny nose New loss of taste or smell Fatigue Muscle or body aches Headache Nausea or vomiting Diarrhea

[drdemonprince]

It’s “urks me” anon. I agree with your reply very much. I know I sent the ask but you did not have to reply as in depth as you did and it genuinely made me feel a lot more comfortable with the space you are creating. I kinda wish you had explained yourself that well in the beginning but hey I of all people know online communication is difficult and this is an evolving convo. Also I’m going to be real your followers have been being a lot more annoying than you ever could be and it was affecting my mood when talking to you. It’s less that healthy people talking about risk management inherently annoys me and more that they are constantly slipping in microaggressions and minor misinfo when they talk about it. Even if the choices they are making are (sometimes…) reasonable it is so obvious that they were not listening to the important technical details vulnerable people were speaking and only heard “blah blah blah scary stuff and restrictions blah blah blah” like…!? I think overshaming is one piece of the puzzle. But I think a lot of people, including many so called allies and covid-aware people, simply don’t listen to us very carefully regardless of how diplomatic we’re being. Maybe they think they already know the technical details even though they clearly don’t? Idk it’s very irritating.

Thanks for your message. This is another place where I get very enraged at our public institutions for failing us so catastrophically! We have all been so systematically misled about COVID, and the actual infection numbers and other ever-evolving data on how it's currently spreading is actively covered up, and not made accessible by journalistic institutions, so on that level I do not hold individiduals reponsible for not understanding things.

Chronically ill, disabled, and otherwise COVID-conscious people have been forced to become the public health information apparatus and have done incredible amounts of thankless work geneating the data, reporting on it, monitoring wastewater levels, delving deeply into the latest research, creating infographics, and trying to spread the word to the public about it, but they have no assistance in it, and no platform beyond what they can build online. and those online communities tend to become siloed because of how social media algorithms work, and so people who have been spreading the facts relentlessly every single day routinely bump up against people who do not see those same posts hardly ever because they are in different pockets of the internet. Which comes down both to their choices and priorities, and due to algortihmic echo-chambers, and economic and political incentive structures silencing the work that COVID-conscious folks do.

And yes, also, people very much do shut down and turn away when confronted with scary information... that's a very well-established fact within public health and persuasion science that has remained a real barrier to public awareness campaigns for a long time. People do not process information about death and threat well at all. So much so that many public health intitatives of the past had to limit talk of death and scary outcomes if they want people to things like get a cancer screening or contemplate quitting smoking. the cigarette companies themselves funded "anti smoking" campaigns that were awash in images of death and bodily decay because they knew those kinds of messages shut people down and actually make them less likely to quit. (i write a lot about this stuff in my new book).

This is where conversations about tactics do become relevant again -- mentioning death or the direness of long COVID isn't "shaming", it's not moral sanctimoniousness, it's not "wrong" to do, it is accurate! but it doesn't usually work persuasively. and I do think there is more we could do to frame masking and taking covid mitigation measures as a thing for a person to take pride in, feel empowered by, and feel connected to others by doing, which generally is what we find to be more effective in public health research.

to return to the cancer comparison, we tend to find that "think of how much peace of mind you'll feel after your cancer screening! take a positive step for your health!" is a more effective framing that actually inspires behavioral change than "if you don't find out that you have pancreatic cancer in time you will most likely die. here are the stats on how many people die of it." That kind of messaging tends to make people less likely to take proactive steps. even though it's all rooted in actual facts.

I have seen some propaganda (postive connotation) evoking a kind of positive, empowering idea regarding masking at protests, but I'd love to see more of it. Sounding the alarm repeatedly does not work for a variety of psychological reasons. people get both numb to it if they've heard something is a "pressing serious life and death emergency" for long enough, and paradoxically, they also overwhelmed by the bleakness. we see a similar thing happening with climate change. these situations ARE dire and people SHOULD care, but in order to make caring feel concrete and possible, behaviorally, we have to frame information in an empowering way.

of course, there are COVID conscious people who do do that and devote lots of energy to crafting such persuasive messages! and still have to cope with being silenced, downgraded by the algorithm, ignored, attacked by anti-maskers, etc. and lots of people understandably feel that they have tried everything and that people still don't care. from where they are sitting as one person that's the emotional reality and that's often the lived intepersonal experience. but that appearance of other people not caring was engineered...and lord i hope we can find a way to socially engineer a collective way out of it, because what we are doing isn't working well enough. unfortunately the thing we need the most desperately is just more people spreading the message and giving a shit.