Wastewater and environmental surveillance (WES) is disease surveillance using samples from sewage, or other environmental waters impacted by human wastewater.  WES has potential to provide information alongside other forms of disease surveillance to fill gaps in other surveillance data and inform the public health response. WES has been successfully used for many years in the polio eradication programme and more recently in the COVID-19 pandemic response. 

WHO is working on guidance and capacity development for WES, for one or more pathogen, as part of a collaborative surveillance approach with a focus on guiding WES investment to targets where; WES data provides actionable information for significant public health challenges in the local context, where methods are technically and operationally feasible, where WES is ethically and legally acceptable, and where WES can be effectively optimized though integration with other targets and clinical surveillance.  

Pilot versions of the pathogen agnostic prioritization guidance and the first six WES pathogen summary sheets can be downloaded below (in English, French, Russian and Spanish).

Feedback from users will be open throughout 2025 at this link – WES Feedback form.