{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,26]],"date-time":"2026-01-26T20:33:29Z","timestamp":1769459609118,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":58,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,24]],"date-time":"2026-01-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1769212800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Free State of Thuringia and the Thuringian Ministry for Economy, Science and Digital Society","award":["2021 FE 9143"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2021 FE 9143"]}]},{"name":"German Federal Ministry of Health"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Microorganisms"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Since the COVID-19 pandemic, wastewater monitoring has become an additional tool in the surveillance of infectious diseases. Many EU countries put wastewater surveillance systems (WSS) in place to track SARS-CoV-2 and its variants and other pathogens, such as the influenza virus or Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). In Germany, several research and pilot projects funded by the EU, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the Federal Ministry of Health, and projects at Federal State level have been launched in the last four years. In Germany, wastewater monitoring was not implemented as a public health tool before the COVID-19 pandemic, but in September 2022, it has been legally determined in the German infection protection act (Infektionsschutzgesetz, IfSG). As Germany is a federal state, competencies in epidemic management partly belong to the 16 federal states (\u201cL\u00e4nder\u201d). In the federal states, the local health authorities at the county (\u201cKreise\u201d) level also have specific risk management and communication competencies. Furthermore, WSS has been incorporated into the revised Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (EU) 2024\/3019. For this reason, the federal states and local health authorities play a pivotal role in successfully implementing wastewater monitoring as a supplementary component of disease surveillance in Germany. Between November 2021 and August 2022, the federal state of Thuringia, Germany, supported a pilot study to implement a surveillance system for SARS-CoV-2-RNA in wastewater of 23 wastewater treatment plants in 17 counties in Thuringia. Here, we describe the study design and the system behind the logistics and the planning, and we provide an overview of the options for involving the public health service. Furthermore, the possibilities for IT concepts and approaches to innovative AI solutions are shown. We also aim to explore the feasibility and potential barriers to further implementing wastewater surveillance as a supplementary public health tool in Thuringia.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/microorganisms14020277","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,26]],"date-time":"2026-01-26T10:24:36Z","timestamp":1769423076000},"page":"277","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Implementation of SARS-CoV-2 Wastewater Surveillance Systems in Germany\u2014Pilot Study in the Federal State of Thuringia"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Felix","family":"Kaller","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department Hamm 2, Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences, 59063 Hamm, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-5774-2077","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gloria M.","family":"Kohlhepp","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Bauhaus-Institute for Infrastructure Solutions (b.is), Bauhaus University Weimar, 99423 Weimar, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3910-0845","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sarah","family":"Haeusser","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department Hamm 2, Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences, 59063 Hamm, Germany"},{"name":"Bauhaus-Institute for Infrastructure Solutions (b.is), Bauhaus University Weimar, 99423 Weimar, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Sara","family":"Wullenkord","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Bauhaus-Institute for Infrastructure Solutions (b.is), Bauhaus University Weimar, 99423 Weimar, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Katarina","family":"Reichel-K\u00fchl","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Bauhaus-Institute for Infrastructure Solutions (b.is), Bauhaus University Weimar, 99423 Weimar, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0004-8190-4809","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Anna","family":"Pfannstiel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Bauhaus-Institute for Infrastructure Solutions (b.is), Bauhaus University Weimar, 99423 Weimar, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0004-7596-9315","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Robert","family":"M\u00f6ller","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Analytik Jena GmbH + Co. KG, 07745 Jena, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jennifer","family":"F\u00fchr","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Analytik Jena GmbH + Co. KG, 07745 Jena, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6746-1758","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Carlos Chillon","family":"Geck","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Digital and Autonomous Construction, Hamburg University of Technology, 21079 Hamburg, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0000-0228-6397","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yousuf","family":"Al-Hakim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Digital and Autonomous Construction, Hamburg University of Technology, 21079 Hamburg, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8897-9334","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andrea","family":"L\u00fcck","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Bauhaus-Institute for Infrastructure Solutions (b.is), Bauhaus University Weimar, 99423 Weimar, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6400-8218","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Norbert","family":"Kreuzinger","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for Water Quality and Resources Management, Vienna University of Technology, 1040 Vienna, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Johannes","family":"Pinnekamp","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Environmental Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8157-2753","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mathias W.","family":"Pletz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for Infectious Diseases and Infection Control, Jena University Hospital\u2014Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Am Klinikum 1, 07740 Jena, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3419-7855","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Claudia","family":"Kl\u00fcmper","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department Hamm 2, Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences, 59063 Hamm, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Silvio","family":"Beier","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Bauhaus-Institute for Infrastructure Solutions (b.is), Bauhaus University Weimar, 99423 Weimar, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7228-3503","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kay","family":"Smarsly","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Digital and Autonomous Construction, Hamburg University of Technology, 21079 Hamburg, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"World Health Organisation (WHO) (2025, December 08). 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