ArticlePloS one2022
Nationwide public perceptions regarding the acceptance of using wastewater for community health monitoring in the United States.
Article in PloS one, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed.
- Exploration of Public Perceptions of Wastewater Surveillance, United States, June 2024.Emerging infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Public Awareness and Acceptance of Wastewater Surveillance in the United States, June 2024.Public health reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974) · 2026Article
- Wastewater surveillance as an early warning indicator for norovirus: Validating wastewater signals against clinical indicators in British Columbia, Canada, 2021-2025.Canada communicable disease report = Releve des maladies transmissibles au Canada · 2026Article
- Qualitative assessment of a novel results-based partnership between national wastewater surveillance centers of excellence and utility companies, Houston (Texas), Colorado, Wisconsin, and California, 2023.BMC public health · 2026Article
- The Role of Fear, Hope, Message Fatigue, and Message Shocking Value in Promoting the Public's Understanding and Support Toward COVID-19 Wastewater Monitoring: Experimental Study.JMIR formative research · 2026Article
- Ethical considerations of wastewater-based disease surveillance-a qualitative interview study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Community-led standards for global wastewater-based infectious disease surveillance.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Communicating Community-Based Public Health Surveillance: Lessons from Profiling Public Risk Perceptions of COVID-19 Wastewater Monitoring.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Review
- Public Opinions from Malawian and Malawi Refugee Camp Residents of Wastewater and Environmental Surveillance.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2025Article
- Advancing health equity in wastewater-based epidemiology: A global critical review and conceptual framework.SSM - population health · 2025Review
- Turning analysis into action: opportunities and challenges in implementing wastewater science for public health decision-making.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Towards the outbreak tail, what is the public opinion about wastewater surveillance in the United States?Journal of water and health · 2024Article
- A survey of the representativeness and usefulness of wastewater-based surveillance systems in 10 countries across Europe in 2023.Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin · 2024Article
- Structured Ethical Review for Wastewater-Based Testing in Support of Public Health.Environmental science & technology · 2023Article
- Wastewater Surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 at Long-Term Care Facilities: Mixed Methods Evaluation.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2023Article
- Using wastewater to overcome health disparities among rural residents.Geoforum; journal of physical, human, and regional geosciences · 2023Article
- Structured Ethical Review for Wastewater-Based Testing.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2023Article
- Online dashboards for SARS-CoV-2 wastewater data need standard best practices: An environmental health communication agenda.Journal of water and health · 2023Review
- Coping with COVID in corrections: a qualitative study among the recently incarcerated on infection control and the acceptability of wastewater-based surveillance.Health & justice · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
To assess the levels of infection across communities during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, researchers have measured severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 RNA in feces dissolved in sewer water. This activity is colloquially known as sewer monitoring and is referred to as wastewater-based epidemiology in academic settings. Although global ethical principles have been described, sewer monitoring is unregulated for health privacy protection when used for public health surveillance in the United States. This study used Qualtrics XM, a national research panel provider, to recruit participants to answer an online survey. Respondents (N = 3,083) answered questions about their knowledge, perceptions of what is to be monitored, where monitoring should occur, and privacy concerns related to sewer monitoring as a public health surveillance tool. Furthermore, a privacy attitude questionnaire was used to assess the general privacy boundaries of respondents. Participants were more likely to support monitoring for diseases (92%), environmental toxins (92%), and terrorist threats (88%; e.g., anthrax). Two-third of the respondents endorsed no prohibition on location sampling scale (e.g., monitoring single residence to entire community was acceptable); the most common location category respondents wanted to prohibit sampling was at personal residences. Sewer monitoring is an emerging technology, and our study sheds light on perceptions that could benefit from educational programs in areas where public acceptance is comparatively lower. Respondents clearly communicated guard rails for sewer monitoring, and public opinion should inform future policy, application, and regulation measures.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.