MAY 13, 2020 \ STARWEEKLY.COM.AU
Paw-fect reading pals (Damjan Janevski) 208270_04
Tarneit youngster Nathan is making the most of the coronavirus pandemic lockdown. Nathan and his brother Adam regularly read to their family’s pet dog Molly. Mum Diane Healy, said Molly was an excellent reading companion. “Both my boys read to Molly every day – I’m surprised this dog can’t read,” she said. “Their favourite place to read is by the pool or ireplace, depending on the weather.” Alesha Capone NATHAN, 10, READS TO MOLLY
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pet pictures: Pages 12-13
COVID sewerage project By Alesha Capone Samples of sewerage taken from the Western Treatment Plant in Werribee are being used in an innovative project to identify potential clusters of coronavirus infections. Melbourne Water chief scientist Dr Melita Stevens said the surveillance of wastewater for the virus was an “exciting and signiicant” step. “his sampling could potentially identify emerging or re-emergent outbreaks, better characterise the extent of asymptomatic infections and community transmission, identify the true peak in infected individuals [compared
with conirmed cases] within a sewer catchment and conirm ‘clearance’ of the COVID-19 virus from an area,” Dr Stevens said. Melbourne Water became involved in the Collaboration on Sewage Surveillance of SARS-COV-2 (ColoSSos Project) ater being approached by Water Research Australia to co-ordinate a national approach to testing sewage for the coronavirus. he ColoSSos Project, which has 12 utility partners, 10 research organisations and six health departments involved, is being supported by the Water Services Association of Australia.
Dr Nick Crosbie is managing the project for Melbourne Water. He said sampling has commenced at diferent sites across the nation. “his project is in its early stages but is a promising methodology that may yield important new information to help inform disease control measures such as social distancing to latten the curve.” Dr Crosbie said. “Sampling began at the start of April at the Western Treatment Plant and is happening across Melbourne’s sewerage network. “Samples are collected twice a week at the Western Treatment Plant as it takes in sewage from more than half of Melbourne. Other
locations are sampled once a week. “Sampling locations and frequency will be reviewed on an ongoing basis.” Analysis of the wastewater samples is being carried out in specialised laboratories. he virus is concentrated from wastewater, and then its genetic material is extracted and examined, to conirm its presence or absence. “Melbourne Water has been involved in similar sewer epidemiology projects for a number of years that involved testing for a range of pathogenic viruses in treated and untreated wastewater and using that data to inform risk assessments,” Dr Crosbie said.
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