COVID-19 Wastewater Surveillance Data. California

__NOTICE: As of September 6, 2024, the wastewater surveillance dataset will now be hosted on: data.chhs.ca.gov/dataset/wastewater-surveillance-data-california. The dataset will no longer be updated on this webpage and will contain a historic dataset. Users who wish to access new and updated data will need to visit the new webpage.__ The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) together are coordinating with several wastewater utilities, local health departments, universities, and laboratories in California on wastewater surveillance for SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19.

Data collected from this network of participants, called the California Surveillance of Wastewater Systems (Cal-SuWers) Network, are submitted to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS). During the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been used for the detection and quantification of SARS-CoV-2 virus shed into wastewater via feces of infected persons. Wastewater surveillance tracks ""pooled samples"" that reflect the overall disease activity for a community serviced by the wastewater treatment plant (an area known as a ""sewershed""), rather than tracking samples from individual people.