A partnership between the city of Tempe and ASU researchers is helping advance the use of wastewater testing methods to alert communities to emerging health risks. The project has been effective in detecting and tracking outbreaks of public health threats, including COVID-19 and opioid addiction. The data the effort is producing is helping the city better inform residents in areas where problems are most prominent, says Tempe strategic management official Wydale Holmes. Prompted by the program’s results, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, the U.S. Navy and the University of Arizona have launched wastewater monitoring projects. Read more about the wastewater epidemiology methods being developed by researchers in ASU’s Biodesign Center for Environmental Health Engineering, directed by Fulton Schools Professor Rolf Halden. (Access to the full news content of the Tempe Independent is accessible only to subscribers.)