Wastewater Utility Resources
A core pillar of the California Wastewater Surveillance Center of Excellence is ensuring that wastewater surveillance remains valuable, practical, and sustainable for all partners involved, especially for wastewater utility partners who make this work possible. This page brings together resources designed specifically to support wastewater utilities currently engaged in, or considering participation in wastewater surveillance. Our goal is to make collaboration easier, strengthen partnerships, and provide clear, accessible tools to help utilities succeed in this public health effort.
Resources
Why Wastewater Surveillance Matters: A Quick Guide for Utilities
This one‑pager offers wastewater utilities a quick, shareable overview of how wastewater surveillance supports public health. Utilities can use it to easily communicate the value of continued wastewater monitoring participation to board members, rate payers, staff, and community audiences. PDF can be access here, or by click on the image to the left.
Wastewater Utility Webinar Series
This three-part webinar series, hosted in partnership with the California Association of Sanitation Agencies (CASA), California Water Environment Association (CWEA), and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), showcases how wastewater surveillance supports public health by introducing the fundamentals of wastewater monitoring, demonstrating how samples are collected and tested, and highlighting real-world best practices from utilities across California. Together, these sessions equip wastewater professionals with practical tools, success stories, and strategies to sustain participation and strengthen partnerships with public health agencies. Wastewater professionals can earn continued education credits and learn more about this webinar series and others by visiting the CWEA website, here.
I) Wastewater Surveillance: What It Is & Why It Matters
In this video recap, you’ll hear from members of the CDPH epidemiology team and the CA NWSS Center of Excellence on how wastewater surveillance provides early insight into community health. The webinar highlights why wastewater data is valuable for public health and underscores the essential role of wastewater workers in supporting statewide surveillance efforts.
II) Wastewater Surveillance: How Wastewater is Tested and the Role of Treatment Facilities
In this video recap, you’ll hear from members of the CDPH wastewater testing lab in the Drinking Water and Radiation Laboratory as they explain how samples are processed and why proper packaging and shipping are essential for accurate results. The webinar gives utilities simple, practical guidance to protect sample quality and support reliable public‑health reporting.
III) Wastewater Surveillance: Making It Work: Best Practices from Field
In this video recap, you’ll hear from utility staff in a panel discussion sharing real “boots on the ground” experience with wastewater surveillance. They highlight why their facilities participate, practical strategies for integrating sampling into daily operations, and how they navigate challenges while sustaining long‑term involvement.
Additional resources
Water Environment Federation (WEF)
WEF provides numerous resources for wastewater utilities including training, toolkits, data use examples, FAQs, and more. Visit the WEF Network of Wastewater-Based Epidemiology Webpage to learn more or visit links below.
CDPH Cal-SuWers Network
The CDPH team host a monthly partners call, for California utility and local health jurisdictional partners to join on the first Monday of the month at 3pm (PST). Contact wws@cdph.ca.gov if you are interested in joining.
