COVID-19 watchers have been keeping an eye on wastewater across the state to spot trends in the disease’s prevalence, and Wellesley is weighing whether it should start sampling its sewage for this, too.
The topic was raised at recent Wellesley Select Board and Board of Health meetings.
We reached out to town officials about this in April after hearing mentions at various board meetings of such possible testing, but didn’t hear back. Select Board member Lise Olney had more luck in directing a question about this to Public Health Director Lenny Izzo during the May 24 Select Board meeting (see Wellesley Media recording at the 1-hour, 7-minute mark).
To date, Wellesley has relied on the southern grouping of data from the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, according to Izzo, who last week took part in a call with the group monitoring wastewater for the state. Biobot Analytics, based in Cambridge, has worked with the state, Boston, and other individual communities, including Cambridge and Gloucester.
Izzo said Wellesley was awaiting more detailed pricing information, though indicated it could be a little bit less expensive than he anticipated based on the initial briefing. “One thing I did like about their program is that they have the ability to test for high-risk substances,” he said. “It’s definitely worth a conversation.”
The Health Department could coordinate with the Department of Public Works on sampling wastewater, then rely on a testing partner for analyzing the presence of COVID-19 as well as substances such as nicotine and fentanyl. COVID reports could be delivered weekly, and drug reports monthly.
The town is exploring the possibility of getting into the state testing system, possibly as soon as July.
The Board of Health briefly discussed the topic as well at its May 25 meeting (see Wellesley Media recording at about 28 minutes in). Wellesley resident Dr. Shira Doron, who heads up epidemiology at Tufts Medical Center, posed the question of what Wellesley would get from its own testing vs. what it gets from Boston-area testing regarding COVID. But that it would have the potential for measuring the prevalence of other diseases down the road.
Board member Linda Oliver Grape said that there could be a window of opportunity to get this funded with non-town monies, so that it’s worth at least learning more about the cost if this could be used to track additional illnesses, opioid use, etc.
On the opioid front, Board member Marcia Testa Simonson said that before-and-after wastewater testing data could help to measure the effectiveness of intervention programs.
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