Wastewater Surveillance for Public Health: Updated EU Regulatory Framework

Wastewater surveillance (WWS) is a non-invasive and privacy friendly method for providing close to real time data on public health impact of, spread of epidemics, environmental pollutants and new health threats. Updated EU legislation covers the full potential of WWS as a platform for monitoring public health related issues. Special attention is given to vulnerable groups in the society. EHDS Regulation enables the ECDC, governments and researchers to link WWS data with other types of health data, related socio-economic data and environmental data for EU wide datasets. Primarily the data sets would be anonymised, but EDHS will make it possible to use also pseudonymised data in a secure processing environment. Extensive information requirements are included in each statutory instrument ensuring that the public is informed of pathogens, viruses, bacteria and environmental pollutants contained in the wastewater and their impact on health. Use of personal data is subject to detailed information requirements.