From dorset64 advfn11 May 2020 19:33
I was on the M5 when Boris mentioned testing the UK's water supply for signs of Covid 19, as a way to better isolate & to understand any hotspots of the disease. Obviously the government have already looked deeply into such systems with France &, I think Spain looking to use them too.
If they choose to go this route in the UK, there are over 7,500 sewage treatment works just in England alone but with that, each one has many entry points, ie. the works may have sewage coming from towns to the North, East, South & West etc and with larger sites having many entrances to the channels. These figures do not include individual or community septic tanks in England or, for instance the over 11,000 single/community septic tanks/sewage works in Scotland & Ireland.
Furthermore and as we work on the UK's water network I also know that each town/village normally have their own sewage pumping stations and it would make sense to install the testing equipment at these points, and therefore the number of testing stations would be multiples of this amount, and this is just England.
When you then add in potable water testing points, testing for government buildings, MOD, hospitals, care homes the numbers go through the roof, and just for England let alone the UK or Europe or further afield.