County explores options for continuation of wastewater surveillance
Published on September 11, 2024
Los Alamos County is exploring options to continue wastewater surveillance for public health following
BioBot Analytics' decision to end its free services.
The County was part of the CDC’s National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS) since February 2022, monitoring SARS-CoV-2 through BioBot. After losing its CDC contract in 2023, BioBot continued to provide services free of charge, which the County shared on its
Wastewater Surveillance web page.* The service ended August 31st.
"We are reviewing several options, including BioBot’s paid program, rejoining the CDC’s NWSS and other options" said County Manager Anne Laurent.
Los Alamos County will follow appropriate procurement procedures as required by law to determine the next steps. Officials will present these options at the 6 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 24 Council meeting, held in Council Chambers at the Municipal Building, 1000 Central Ave.
*September 12, 2024 clarification: A URL is provided on our Wastewater Surveillance web page for residents to view the county’s data on the BioBot dashboard. BioBot originally segregated the county's data, but transitioned to presenting the data by region (with Los Alamos included in the West region). We began supplementing this regional data in July 2024 with a print screen of BioBot's findings for the county’s specific wastewater samples.