SARS-CoV-2 adsorption on suspended solids along a sewerage network: mathematical model formulation, sensitivity...

Area of Science:

• Environmental Engineering
• Wastewater Treatment
• Virology

Background:

• Accurate estimation of SARS-CoV-2 shedding rates in wastewater is crucial for public health surveillance.
• Existing methods often overlook virus adsorption onto suspended solids, leading to potential inaccuracies.
• Understanding virus distribution in sewer systems requires accounting for these adsorption dynamics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a general, simplified model for SARS-CoV-2 adsorption on wastewater solids.
• To enable estimation of spatial virus shedding rates using multiple monitoring points.
• To provide a foundational tool for inverse problems in wastewater-based epidemiology.

Main Methods:

• A discrete-continuous approach for sewer topology and a monodisperse moment method for variable domains were employed.
• The model simplifies complex physicochemical phenomena into a system of ordinary differential equations.
• Sensitivity analysis and specific numerical integration techniques were utilized.

Main Results:

• A parametric case study demonstrated the model's application in a realistic sewer network.
• The model accounts for SARS-CoV-2 adsorption on solids, even with competing species present.
• This work represents the first model of its kind in scientific literature.

Conclusions:

• The developed model offers a significant advancement in accurately quantifying SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater.
• It provides a pathway for assessing the spatial distribution of virus shedding rates.
• This research is a crucial first step towards robust wastewater-based public health surveillance.