Turkey’s environmental engineers warn against spread of COVID-19 through wastewater
Hacı Bişkin reports: Turkey’s Chamber of Environmental Engineers warned against the risk of infection of the COVID-19 through wastewater. Anyone who drinks water from the source should disinfect it prior to consumption with ultraviolet light according to a recent (CMO) report said. According to the report, as almost 70% of Istanbul’s wastewater isn’t biologically purified sea creatures like clams could also be infected.
Duvar English
The Istanbul Office of Turkey’s Chamber of Environmental Engineers (CMO) warned against the risk of infection of the COVID-19 through wastewater in an evaluation report entitled “COVID-19 in Management of Water and Wastewater.”
The chamber noted that the Public Health and Environmental Institute, a research institute tied to the Dutch Ministry of Health had detected COVID-19 in wastewaters in the Netherlands.
“It is known that the coronavirus gets into wastewater, especially through human feces. Research has shown that the virus can be active in human feces for up to four weeks.”
Patients who have recovered from the illness have COVID-19 in their feces. That is explained by the fact that the virus reproduces in human intestines, the CMO report noted.
The report added that poorly designed bathrooms with empty water tanks and shabby air conditioning could contribute to spreading the coronavirus.
“In 2003, the SARS coronavirus was carried around in an apartment building because of flaws in the plumbing and the air conditioning, infecting 342 persons and causing the death of some 42 people.”
Sea creatures could spread the virus
The CMO report stated that 68 percent of Istanbul’s wastewater is released into the Bosphorus and the Marmara Sea without receiving biological filtering.
The report noted that some businesses don’t purify their wastewater before discharging it into the Bosphorus, and that they build illegal discharge mechanisms that to channel wastewater directly into the sea.
“Between the illegal discharges and the virus reproducing itself in lower temperatures, it’s possible that sea creatures such as clams could carry the virus.”
The CMO further emphasized that central purification centers for drinking water should maintain hygiene in their facilities and check for microbiological pollution.
It added that anyone who drinks water from the source should disinfect it prior to consumption with ultraviolet light, which requires special equipment, or with gas and chemicals.
A homemade method of disinfection would be boiling water before consumption, the CMO maintained.