Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) provides a comprehensive real-time framework of population attitude and health status. This approach is attracting the interest of medical community and health authorities to monitor the prevalence of a virus (such as the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, SARS-CoV-2) among a community. Indeed, WBE is currently fine-tuning as environmental surveillance tool for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. After a bibliometric analysis conducted to discover the research trends in WBE field, this work aimed to side-by-side compare the conventional method based on clinical testing with WBE approach. Furthermore, novel guidelines were developed to apply the WBE approach to a pandemic. The growing interest on WBE approach for COVID-19 pandemic is demonstrated by looking at the sharp increase in scientific papers published in the last years and at the ongoing studies on viral quantification methods and analytical procedures. The side-by-side comparison highlighted the ability of WBE to identify the hot-spot areas faster than the conventional approach, reducing the costs (e.g., rational use of available resources) and the gatherings at medical centers. Contrary to clinical testing, WBE has the surveillance capacity for preventing the virus resurgence, including asymptomatic contribution, and ensuring the preservation of medical staff health by avoiding the exposure to the virus infection during clinical testing. As extensively reported, the time in collecting epidemiological data is crucial for establishing the prevention and mitigation measures that are essential for curbing a pandemic. The developed guidelines can help to build a WBE system useful to control any future pandemic.

A semi-industrial scale AnMBR plant was operated for more than 600 days to evaluate the long-term operation of this technology at ambient temperature (ranging from 10 to 27 ○C), variable hydraulic retention times (HRT) (from 25 to 41 h) and influent loads (mostly between 15 and 45 kg COD·d-1). The plant was fed with sulfate-rich high-loaded municipal wastewater from the pre-treatment of a full-scale WWTP. The results showed promising AnMBR performance as the core technology for wastewater treatment, obtaining an average 87.2 ± 6.1 % COD removal during long-term operation, with 40 % of the data over 90%. Five periods were considered to evaluate the effect of HRT, influent characteristics, COD/SO42--S ratio and temperature on the biological process. In the selected periods, methane yields varied from 70.2±36.0 to 169.0±95.1 STP L CH4·kg-1 CODinf, depending on the influent sulfate concentration, and wasting sludge production was reduced by between 8 % and 42 % compared to conventional activated sludge systems. The effluent exhibited a significant nutrient recovery potential. Temperature, HRT, SRT and influent COD/SO42--S ratio were corroborated as crucial parameters to consider in maximizing AnMBR performance.

The kinetics and microbial ecology in sulfidogenic bioreactors used in a novel two-stage process for co-treatment of acid mine drainage (AMD) and municipal wastewater (MWW) were investigated. Michaelis-Menten modeling of COD oxidation by sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) (Vmax=0.33mgL(-1)min(-1), Km=4.3mgL(-1)) suggested that the Vmax can be reasonably achieved given the typical COD values in MWW and anticipated mixing with AMD. Non-competitive inhibition modeling (Ki=6.55mgL(-1)) indicated that excessive iron level should be avoided to limit its effects on SRB. The COD oxidation rate was positively correlated to COD/sulfate ratio and SRB population, as evidenced by dsrA gene copies. Phylogenetic analysis revealed diverse microbial communities dominated by sulfate reducing delta-proteobacteria. Microbial community and relative quantities of SRB showed significant differences under different COD/sulfate ratios (0.2, 1 and 2), and the highest dsrA gene concentration and most complex microbial diversity were observed under COD/sulfate ratio 2. Major species were associated with Desulfovirga, Desulfobulbus, Desulfovibrio, and Syntrophus sp. The reported COD kinetics, SRB abundances and the phylogenetic profile provide insights into the co-treatment process and help identify the parameters of concerns for such technology development.