$1 device developed in Halifax that detects COVID-19 in sewers drawing global interest

A $1 device developed at Dalhousie University in Halifax that can detect COVID-19 in wastewater has been shipped across Canada and around the world to help researchers and public health in the battle against the deadly respiratory illness.

The device is a small, spherical cage that contains an absorbent pad to collect samples from sewer systems. The specimens are then analyzed using lab equipment to determine whether COVID-19 is present in the wastewater.

Unlike previous methods of testing wastewater for COVID-19, the cage — which is 3D-printed at Dalhousie — is inexpensive to make, costing around a buck.

The low cost of the device makes monitoring more accessible, said Graham Gagnon, one of the researchers and the director of the Dalhousie University Centre for Water Resource Studies. Although the equipment needed to analyze the wastewater is expensive, most COVID-19 testing labs would already have it.

The Dal researchers, including Emalie Hayes, a PhD student who helped develop the device, have shipped about 150 of them to locations as far away as Australia and Sorbonne University in France. Others have been sent to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, the government of the Northwest Territories and public health bodies in Ontario. 

"We were like, 'Wow, we kind of hit the big time by somebody at the Sorbonne being interested in what we're doing," Gagnon said.

The Northwest Territories has used the cage in sewers outside public schools to monitor for COVID-19 and in one case, detected an occurrence, he added.