Role of wastewater treatment in COVID-19 control

The International Water Association (IWA) initiated a Task Force in April 2020 to serve as a leadership team within IWA whose role is to keep abreast and communicate the emerging science, technology, and applications for understanding the impact and the ability to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and specifically designed for water professionals and industries. Expertise was nominated across the world with the purpose of collectively providing the water sector with knowledge products for the guidance on the control of COVID-19 and other viruses. This review paper developed by a working group of the IWA Task Force focuses on the control of COVID-19. The purpose of this review paper is to provide an understanding of existing knowledge with regards to COVID-19 and provide the necessary guidance of risk mitigation based on currently available knowledge of viruses in wastewater. This review paper considered various scenarios for both the developed world and the developing world and provided recommendations for managing risk. The review paper serves to pool the knowledge with regards to the pandemic and in relation to other viruses. The IWA Task Team envisage that this review paper provides the necessary guidance to the global response to the ongoing pandemic.