There are already "sewerbots". They do everything from video inspection to removing clogs. They even install fiber optic communications lines in sewers. One could also utilize technology similar to those robotic human-swallowable "pills". Only in this instance, one would flush such a robot down the toilet on purpose, and they would be retrieved at the sewage treatment plant, where their "payload" (data and/or samples) could be retrieved. At 01:19 PM 4/18/2020, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
Henry Baker <hbaker1@pipeline.com> wrote:
Better to sample and test *sewage* at strategic branching locations in the sewer system, where the "mixing" has already taken place. (Yes, fecal matter does contain the virus.)
You would need an army (navy?) of small autonomous robots, each equipped with the ability to quickly do large numbers of virus tests. They'd also need access to a complete and accurate map of the city's sewer system, to the level of every individual household. (Do such maps even exist?) And they'd have to have some way to keep track of where they were, despite being in conductive pipes that neither GPS nor cell phone signals can penetrate. And they'd need a way to report their results.