State asks Kenai to join disease early-warning network

The Kenai City Council approved a memorandum of agreement Wednesday to join a statewide wastewater monitoring network designed to detect disease outbreaks before clinical cases emerge. The Alaska Department of Health brought the proposal to the council as part of the consent agenda.

Clayton Weingartner, the department's wastewater monitoring program manager, told the council the system tests sewage for COVID, influenza, RSV, measles, and pox. Samples travel to two Anchorage laboratories for analysis: the Department of Environmental Conservation's Environmental Health Lab and the University of Alaska Anchorage AIMS Core Facility. Results reach public health officials as trend data, not individual identifications.

"That's what we're really trying to build the system around, is an early detection tool for measles," Weingartner said. "Then also for a certain subtype of influenza A, H5N1, also known as avian influenza, or you probably have heard it called bird flu."

The program would sample Kenai's wastewater one to two times per week. The preferred collection point is the wastewater treatment plant, which Weingartner described as representative of the entire community, though sampling can also occur from manholes or at the single-building level. The state would cover all equipment costs, including auto-samplers.

"We cover all costs," Weingartner said. "The only thing we can't do is reimburse for any time."

Weingartner was direct about what sustains the effort. "Utility partnerships are the backbone of making this work," he said. "Without the utility operators' buy-in and engagement, this is not a sustainable effort."

With the consent agenda approved, Weingartner said he would visit the treatment plant, assess the facility, and begin sampling as soon as that assessment is complete.