Our Impact
“Wastewater monitoring has provided a snapshot of our burden of disease in a way that we can not glean from other sources. It is reliable because it is independent of local testing and treatment behaviors. We have used it to communicate with our populations at higher risk of severe outcomes like long term care facilities and educational partners.”
– KT Gallagher, MPA, Director/Health Officer, Dunn County Health Department
“As Brown County Public Health prepared for the NFL Draft to be in Green Bay, April 2025, we were happy to work alongside WI DHS and other local and regional partners. Real time surveillance and streamlined communication was important in the effort and the WI DHS Wastewater Program Team helped accomplish that. The wastewater program team guided a welcomed process that brought together crucial data from a variety of sources, including wastewater surveillance, into a curated report and facilitated collaborative discussions and check-ins prior to and after the draft so we could monitor for any emerging health issues in the community. Their support was greatly appreciated and strengthened our emergency preparedness efforts.”
– Brown County Public Health
“Thank you to the lab that does wastewater testing!” was a message from an organ transplant recipient that frequently checks the wastewater data to look out for COVID-19 spikes in their area.
– Wisconsin resident, August 2025
“Our team uses wastewater data to monitor disease trends over time. We compare our wastewater information with others in our region and other data sources to see the impact of communicable disease in our area.”
– Julie McCallum, Health Officer, Sawyer County
“The DHS Wastewater Monitoring Program continues to expand testing for more viruses, providing local health departments with valuable data. During a time of limited resources, wastewater monitoring offers a cost-effective way to track multiple viruses at a community level and can offer additional insights to data from more traditional sources such as clinical labs, hospitals, and emergency room data.”
– Manjari Ojha, Data Analyst, Public Health Madison & Dane County
“We stopped looking at the test positivity and are mostly checking the wastewater levels [of SARS-CoV-2], because not many people get tested anymore.”
– School Nurse in Madison, WI, Fall 2023
“Our local wastewater monitoring for COVID-19 has served as an early notification system that has allowed public health to make quicker decisions on mitigation efforts such as masking and testing.”
– Tina Burch, Health Director, Juneau County Health Department
“Wastewater monitoring provides an early warning system for the spread of infectious diseases, allowing public health officials to respond quickly and effectively. It also offers a cost-effective way to track community health trends without relying solely on individual testing.”
– Charles E Sepers, Jr, PhD, MPH, Health Officer & Director, City of Appleton Health Department
“It has provided us a way to monitor respiratory illness without solely relying on clinical or lab data. These data have helped our community make data-informed health decisions, like when to mask in public.”
– Kat Grande, Epidemiology Manager, Public Health Madison & Dane County
“Staff performing testing for norovirus in Wisconsin observed discrepancy between the BioMerieux’s BioFire FilmArray Gastrointestinal (GI) panel results and other norovirus test results. They suspected that BioFire GI FilmArray was exhibiting a false-positivity issue. They then approached the Wisconsin Wastewater Monitoring team to conduct a retrospective analysis of wastewater samples to shed more light on the issue. The resulting data was included in the investigation that concluded that the BioFire GI panel was reporting false positives leading to the recall being issued for this product (and its use for norovirus) in January 2024.”
– FilmArray Gastrointestinal (GI) panel recall
“The wastewater Monitoring data provides a more accurate picture of illness within our community. We have used this data and information to regularly update our Health and Human Services Committee members. The data also informs our overall community messaging plan and is included in our community newsletter and on our social media. If data indicates high or very high it prompts additional community messaging up to and including press releases and healthcare provider updates.”
– Starrlene Grossman, Sheboygan County Health Officer
“Wastewater monitoring has filled gaps in monitoring for COVID-19 activity in our community after disease reporting requirements changed. Additionally, it is allowing us to monitor for high consequence diseases that do not commonly occur in our community, specifically Avian Influenza and MPOX. Wastewater monitoring has become a vital tool for our work in public health and we appreciate all of the work that goes into the program.”
– Rachel Mukai, MPH, Epidemiologist, Eau Claire City-County Health Department
“As COVID-19 activity continues to evolve and with limited clinical testing for cases, COVID-19 wastewater data has become a critical component of the Dane County Respiratory Illness Dashboard. This data provides our community with valuable insights into the level of COVID-19 activity, helping to better understand and monitor the virus’s presence in our area.”
– Public Health Madison & Dane County
“We’re a border county, which makes traditional disease surveillance challenging at times. Wastewater monitoring is a complementary tool for us to understand the current respiratory disease burden in our communities.”
– AZ Snyder, Health Officer, Pierce County Public Health