Ted Audio Collective.

You're listening to Ted Talks Daily.

I'm Elise Hugh.

You may remember that one of the most reliable predictors of COVID in a community

was analyzing wastewater and Data Detective Nusha Galey was one of the people behind the sewage analyzing effort.

In her 2023 talk from Ted Immigrant Diaspora Iranian event, the Data Detective

reveals all the other vital information we can glean from sewage

and the valuable policy changes it could bring on after a break.

Has it ever occurred to you as you walk down the street,

just how much data is flowing beneath your feet?

A wealth of information on our health and our well-being is running through our city sewers,

and we're all contributing to it every single time we use the toilet. Think about it. Everybody

peas and poops,

and we know that urine and stool contain a rich source of information

on our health and our well-being.

Our doctors look at it all the time

to analyze for a variety of things. Now every time you flush you're

sending this valuable information down into our sewers where it's mixing with

waste from hundreds of thousands of other people.

Once collected, this tiny sample

comes from a wastewater treatment plant

that represents more than 1 million people.

...