A Massachusetts company that has been analyzing Boston-area sewage for COVID-19 has been selected by the federal government to launch a national wastewater-based coronavirus monitoring program.
Cambridge-based Biobot Analytics has been tracking wastewater at Massachusetts Water Resources Authority’s Deer Island Treatment Plant throughout the pandemic. Detection in sewage can head off outbreaks.
The company was selected by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to analyze samples from 320 wastewater treatment plants, covering 100 million people across the country.
“With this contract, hundreds of local communities across the country will be able to leverage data from wastewater to stay on top of COVID-19, especially as we move into later stages of the pandemic and clinical testing ramps down,” Newsha Ghaeli, Biobot’s president and co-founder, told the Boston Herald.
Company Tracking Coronavirus in Sewage Goes National medscape.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from medscape.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
UpdatedTue, May 18, 2021 at 8:29 pm ET
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A consultant hired to study Framingham s water and sewer rates has advised the city to increase rates by double-digits over the next two years. (Shutterstock/Yingna Cai)
FRAMINGHAM, MA Framingham business owners and residents may be in for some large water and sewer bill increases soon otherwise, Framingham s water and sewer system may drown.
That s the verdict of a consult hired to study the city s water and sewer system following recent deficit problems in the enterprise funds. Consultant Douglas Gardner told Councilors Tuesday night the city s utility rates have not kept pace with costs the rates did not rise at all in 2021 and the rate structure is outdated, leaving the city vulnerable to revenue losses if a large ratepayer were to leave town.
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The town last week took the Morses Pond water treatment plant offline after elevated levels of chemicals were detected.
The Department of Public Works is doing laboratory testing, as required by state regulations, which will determine the levels of human-made chemical compounds in Wellesley’s drinking water. Recent results from initial tests performed in April 2021 by the Water and Sewer Division have confirmed elevated levels of PFAS6 compounds at the Morses Pond Wellfield, one of three treatment plants supplying drinking water to the town, according to the town s announcement. As a precaution, this week the Morses Pond plant was taken offline while further testing is done, and water for all Wellesley residents and businesses is currently being supplied by the town’s two other treatment plants, plus the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA).