• Coronavirus, traces in waste water in Milan and Rome

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June 24, 2020 "The final disinfection phase" of properly treated waste water allows "to optimize the conditions of complete virus removal before the purified water is released into the environment". That said, risks of the spread of coronavirus "must be identified in the circumstances of lack or inefficiency of the treatment services that could involve the spread of Sars-CoV-2 in the environment". In short, the risk of contagion is linked to "surface water used for bathing or for irrigation purposes" and "autonomous water supplies" which can derive from "illicit emissions and discharges of wastewater from homes and urban nuclei".

Purification failure: it is an emergency
The Minister of the Environment, Sergio Costa, said this during his hearing at the Commission of Inquiry into illegal activities related to the waste cycle and related environmental offenses, the 'Ecomafie'. Costa stresses that it is "even more urgent, at this point, to resolve the question" of the failure to purify urban waste water "not only for the Community infringement, but for one more reason, which is not environmental but of a health nature".

Purified waters are safe
The Istituto Superiore di Sanità, to which Costa asked for a report, "reported some concise conclusions of specific reports drawn up on the risk analysis", explains the Minister of the Environment. "The current purification practices are generally effective in the inactivation of the virus, given the retention times that characterize the treatments, combined with environmental conditions that affect the vitality of the viruses which are sunlight, high pH levels, biological activity, as already I reported "in the case of waste. In fact, "the final disinfection phase allows to optimize the conditions for the complete removal of the viruses before the purified water is released into the environment", the minister continues, adding that "specific provisions have also been developed for the management of sewage sludge in the emergency pandemic phase ".

The risk comes from illicit behavior and defaults
The analysis of the risk of exposure to Sars-CoV-2 through water and sanitation indicates that "there are, at present, high levels of health protection", underlines Costa. However, "similarly to what is observed for contamination due to other chemical agents and pathogens, critical hazardous events related to the possible spread of Covid-19 infection through exposure to water matrices", such as waste water, surface water used for bathing or for irrigation purposes, autonomous water supplies, "must be identified in the circumstances of lack or inefficiency of the treatment services that could lead to the spread of Sars-CoV-2 in the environment", explains the minister.

Risk analysis
"Surveillance authorities will therefore have to focus every attention on the possible existence of illicit emissions and discharges of waste from homes and urban nuclei", warns Sergio Costa. With specific reference to the possible presence of the Covid-19 virus in the waste water, the ISS "has carried out a thorough and extensive risk analysis in relation to Water and Sanitation, including sewage treatment and sludge management, and Covid-19, as even for human uses of water, including drinking water, bathing, compared to potential exposure to Sars-Cov-2 ", states the minister.