Next week the Portland Water District will begin testing wastewater for monkeypox.
The district will send samples from its East End Wastewater Treatment plant three times a week to a lab in order to monitor community levels of the virus.
"It's really an opportunity for us to provide a public health benefit with the infrastructure we already have," says Scott Firmin, the district's director of wastewater services.
The Portland Water District is collaborating with WastewaterSCAN, which will publish test results on its website. The district already tests wastewater for COVID-19 through a separate program with the state CDC.
