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State public‑health team tells Fort Collins council how wastewater testing tracks community disease trends
Summary
A Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment official told the Fort Collins City Council that the state's wastewater surveillance program provides early warning of disease trends — testing for COVID, flu, RSV, enterovirus D68, measles and, soon, West Nile — and uses a 21‑site sentinel model and public dashboard to inform local responses.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) told the Fort Collins City Council on Tuesday that wastewater sampling gives communities an early, noninvasive signal of infectious‑disease trends and helps public‑health officials allocate resources.
Leslie Hill, Fort Collins’ Water Quality Services Division director, introduced Lisonbee Wheeler, manager of CDPHE’s wastewater surveillance unit, who said the program began in August 2020 and now uses a sentinel model that monitors 21 wastewater utilities across Colorado and additional emergency surveillance sites for rapid activation.
“By analyzing wastewater samples, we can determine disease trends for communities,” Wheeler said. She described how utilities collect two samples per week at treatment plants, the state lab concentrates and characterizes the virus or pathogen, and a data team cleans and publishes trends on a public dashboard for utility‑level users and the public.
Wheeler listed pathogens the program monitors: SARS‑CoV‑2 variants, flu and RSV (added in 2023), enterovirus D68, mpox clades 1 and 2, and, soon, West Nile virus. She also said the state is piloting tests for Candida auris and antimicrobial‑resistance genes that are not yet public.
Wheeler emphasized limits to the approach: “We are only able to monitor those areas that are served by a wastewater system,” she said, adding that homes on septic systems or facilities that process their own waste are not captured. She warned that high‑tourism sewer sheds can give unstable signals and that viral shedding varies by person and pathogen, so wastewater results are best interpreted alongside clinical surveillance.
CDPHE officials said the West Nile signal will be added to the public dashboard in mid‑May and that seasonal West Nile surveillance will begin May 1. The state also described a shift from broad enrollment — the program enrolled 68 utilities at its height — to the current sentinel approach to sustain long‑term monitoring while retaining a set of utilities on emergency standby.
Council members thanked the presenters but had no substantive questions beyond expressing appreciation for the data. Hill noted Fort Collins provides samples through its pollution control laboratory, and Wheeler thanked the city for participating.
The presentation concluded with the state inviting community feedback on the dashboard and encouragement to use the data alongside other public‑health indicators when planning local responses. The council then moved into the public‑comment portion of its agenda.
Provenance: transcript presentation introduced at SEG 483 and concluded at SEG 762.
What happens next: CDPHE will add West Nile to the public dashboard in mid‑May; seasonal West Nile surveillance begins May 1.
