High concentration of coronavirus in wastewater, sewer workers worried about their health

According to the results of the latest samples taken by Eau de Paris, the organization in charge of the sewerage networks and that France Bleu Paris has obtained, there is no longer any detectable trace of Covid-19 in the capital’s non-potable water. On the other hand, sewer workers remain concerned about wastewater.

These waters that we find in our sewers and which come directly from our bathrooms, our toilets or even our kitchens presented between March and April a significant concentration of virus.

“The precautionary principle must apply”

According to our information, he had -during the peak of the epidemic- uhigh concentration of coronavirus in wastewater samples analyzed by and for Eau de Paris, the organization in charge of the sewerage network. These are not minute traces as was the case for non-potable water, but intact and therefore potentially infectious viral particles.

“The virus is very present, we do not know if it is infectious but it is estimated that from the moment there is a doubt, the precautionary principle must apply to protect the agents”, says Julien Devaux, CGT FTDNEEA delegate. He regrets that the sewer workers are back to work without their conditions having really changed. “Sewers continue to work in the sanitation network as if nothing had happened, without their protections being adapted“.”What we are asking for is a ventilated mask that takes the entire face“, he continues, insisting on the current risks of projections of particles of the virus in the eyes and therefore the mucous membranes of the sewer workers.

Present but not necessarily active

“We understand their concerns, sewers are an extremely hostile environment, sewer is a dangerous job”, recognizes Célia Blauel, assistant to the town hall of Paris and president of the organization Eau de Paris. “But their outfits are at the forefront“insists the elected official. According to her, the sewer equipment has evolved over the last 10 years to be”as efficient and operational as possible “. “They have boots, coveralls, visors to limit the microbiological risk“, she adds.

The city of Paris has, however, ordered new protective glasses which are scheduled for delivery in early June. She recognizes that the virus is present but recalls that “nothing proves that he is active”. According to Célia Blauel, the results of the samples “it’s a proof of presence, nothing more“.

A study has also been launched to identify the risks. The sewers from the sewers will therefore continue. “The idea is to have an epidemiological follow-up, to see what is the presence, what is the rate of the virus in the sewers, and to monitor if we have cases that develop in our agents so as to correlate everything scientifically“. It delays however:”At the time of the epidemic peak, nobody or almost nobody went down the drain“About forty officers out of 300 were indeed mobilized during the confinement.

The coronavirus, an additional risk

For the time being, these results echo several studies – taken in particular in a WHO note – which have demonstrated the presence of virus in patients’ stools. The WHO specifies however that there has not been, to date, any case of transmission by this way but insists on “the importance of the precautions to take and the disinfection of waters”.

This potential for infection is therefore added, for sewer workers, to the risks they already know, linked to toxic and harmful gases present in sewers and which considerably reduce their life expectancy known to be 17 years lower than the French population, according to epidemiological studies carried out between 2004 and 2009 on sewage workers in the City of Paris, by INRS, INSERM and occupational medicine.

Are rats carriers?

The CGT FTDNEEA has also called for the establishment of a specific campaign of samples and tests on the rat population in sewers as well as on sludge. “With an estimated population of 3 million in Paris, rats are mammals which can already carry the hepatitis E virus. Let us agree that if they were carriers of the coronavirus and potentially contagious for humans, this data could have an impact extremely important on the management of the epidemic and far beyond Paris“, said the union in a document communicated to elected officials.

On this subject, ANSES wants to be reassuring, after the contamination with coronavirus of animals, including a cat, in recent days, it ensures in a press release “_qu’_there is currently no scientific evidence for the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from an infected animal to humans. ”

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