Wastewater monitoring is an early detection tool that can help communities prepare for and respond to increasing cases of infectious diseases. People with certain infections shed pieces of the virus when they use the bathroom, shower, or wash their hands, even if they don't have symptoms. Those pieces of virus travel down the drain through the sewage system. Before wastewater is treated, operators take samples to send out to a laboratory. Labs test these samples to detect and report on different types of infection circulating in a community. Public health officials use wastewater data to better understand disease trends in communities and target interventions, such as providing guidance on how to prevent infections or increasing testing or vaccination options.