9/14/2020 We are anticipating the arrival of the next group of test kits from Bio-bot within the next week. We would like to share more information about the process of mining wastewater data to create a Covid-19 case estimation:
biobotanalytics/mining-wastewater-data-to-refine-covid-19-case-estimation
Sars-CoV-2 virus detected in the sewage at Nehalem Bay Wastewater Treatment Plant.
09/03/2020 The results are in for August, week ending 8/28/2020. The report for the last week of August shows a detected amount of Sars-CoV-2 virus equivalent to an estimated 15 cases in our service area (Nehalem, Wheeler, Manzanita, and Neahkahnie). Please continue to practice all safety measures, wear your mask, and stay physically distanced.
Next steps: For the September testing, we will be narrowing the service area to the individual communities.
View the full report here:
Sars-CoV-2 virus detected in the sewage at Nehalem Bay Wastewater Treatment Plant.
08/28/2020 The results are in for August, week ending 8/11/2020 and 8/19/2020. The report for the second week of August shows a detected amount of Sars-CoV-2 virus equivalent to an estimated 20 cases in our service area (Nehalem, Wheeler, Manzanita, and Neahkahnie). The report for the third week of August shows a detected amount of Sars-CoV-2 virus equivalent to an estimated 10 cases in our service area. These detections are likely attributed to the increase of visitors to our area and the nearly full capacity of second homes and vacation rentals. Please continue to practice all safety measures, wear your mask, and stay physically distanced.
View the full reports here:
No detected SARS-CoV-2 virus in the sewage at Nehalem Bay Wastewater Treatment Plant.
08/13/2020 The results are in for the week ending August 4th, 2020. View the full report from Biobot here:
8/04/2020 Updates
Covid Testing: We have received our next set of Biobot testing kits that will test the raw sewage for SARS-CoV-2 virus over the next four weeks. Samples will be sent to the Biobot labs weekly and it takes a couple of weeks to receive the results. We will post the results and the full reports once received. The last round of testing was completed in May with no virus detected.
BioSolids Projects: The project is moving along smoothly. Fire Mountain Farms has dredged about 1/2 of the 280 dry tons goal. If things continue at this rate, the project will be complete in one week.
Online Payment Options: We are now accepting payments through the website. You will need your seven-digit account # and the amount of the bill to complete the transaction.
PublicNotice 7/20/2020 BioSolids Project update. The project begins Tuesday, 7/21/2020, and is now estimated to take 11-21 days to complete.
No detected SARS-CoV-2 virus in the sewage at Nehalem Bay Wastewater Treatment Plant.
06/10/2020 The results are in for the last two weeks of May. View the full reports from Biobot here:
What You Flush is Helping Track Coronavirus
06/01/2020 We have teamed up with BioBot, a company out of Massachusetts that has been testing influent(raw) wastewater nationwide for Covid-19. We signed up in early April to get on the limited list and we were accepted at the end of April for testing. We have results back from two of the four weeks tested, the first two weeks in May, with no SARS-CoV-2 virus detected in the sewage at Nehalem Bay Wastewater Agency. Our service area includes the communities of Nehalem, Manzanita, Wheeler, and Neah-Kah-Nie.
View the full reports from Biobot here:
Would you like to learn more about Biobot? Check out this story from NPR at https://www.npr.org/2020/05/07/852155076/how-what-you-flush-is-helping-track-coronavirus.
We will update with new test results when the reports come back from the Biobot lab.
Established in 1970, the Nehalem Bay Wastewater Agency serves the Oregon coastal cities of Nehalem, Manzanita and Wheeler and the surrounding area.
Our main office is in Nehalem, but you might not know that those little buildings in the area are our major pump stations, nineteen and twelve building lift stations.
Of course, there are also 1145 manholes/clean-outs and 396,000 feet of gravity pipeline that varies in size from 6 inch to 21 inch that connects everything.