Project funded by the European Commission through the Emergency Support Instrument

“Support to Member States for the establishment of national systems, local collection points and digital infrastructure for monitoring Covid 19 and its variants in wastewater – Romania”

Grant Agreement No. 060701/2021/864662/SUB/ENV. C2

Partners:

Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests – project leader

National Institute for Research and Development for Environmental Protection

National Administration “Romanian Waters”

Implementation period:

01.01.2022 – 30.09.2023 (21 months)

The beneficiary of the project is the Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests.

The total value of the project is 865,989 EUR.

The project aimed to modernize the research infrastructure available at national level by developing a properly equipped laboratory for wastewater analysis in terms of detecting the SARS-CoV-2 virus and its variants. The project also envisaged the development of a methodology for identifying Covid-19 outbreaks based on information provided by the wastewater surveillance system. The results obtained shall be transmitted to the competent health authorities and uploaded to the digital platform developed at national level to ensure interoperability with the European Digital Exchange Platform (DEEP).

For the implementation period of the project, Romania aims to analyze samples taken from locations located in Bucharest and will extend the surveillance area throughout the country.

The role of the National Administration “Romanian Waters” within the project was to contribute to the elaboration of the methodology for identifying viral outbreaks in its field of competence regarding aspects regarding urban wastewater collection and treatment and to provide a documented analysis on the possibility of extending the surveillance activity of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in wastewater, considering the situation of urban wastewater infrastructure in human agglomerations at national level.

The project responds to Recommendation (EU) 2021/472 on a common approach of Member States to establish national systems and establish systematic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 virus in waste water for early detection and avoidance of spread in the community through the application of public health measures.