
Urban Wastewater-Based Epidemiology
Description
Health inequalities in cities are often spatially concentrated at the neighbourhood level, yet systematic monitoring is often hampered by a lack of high-resolution health data. Wastewater-based epidemiology offers an innovative approach to this challenge: wastewater is understood not as waste, but as an underutilized source of population-level health data.
Our research group is systematically developing the emerging field of urban wastewater-based epidemiology, with the aim of enabling the timely and spatially precise monitoring of health-related parameters in wastewater – providing a robust foundation for comprehensive analyses of urban health conditions.
Analysing wastewater at small spatial scales presents distinct methodological challenges. We are therefore developing methods for modelling small-scale sub-sewersheds and for dynamic population normalization of wastewater measurements. Our analytical focus encompasses pathogens and antibiotic resistance alongside parameters that capture the environmental exposures and lifestyle factors of urban populations.
Working Group Leader

Dr. rer. nat.
Dennis Schmiege
Deputy Head of the Institute for Urban Public Health (InUPH)
Projects
- Small-Scale wastewater-analyses
- WBEready
- PooP – Small-scale analysis of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in municipal wastewater in the city of Essen
Publications
- Talleb Y, Heinzelmann F, Haselhoff T, Schmidt T, Nafo I, Moebus S, Ickstadt K, Schmiege D. Socio-spatial characterization of sub-sewersheds for wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE): Developing and evaluating two estimators for population-related variables. Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology, 100759. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sste.2025.100759
- Klassen O, Moebus S, Schmiege D. Wastewater analysis of chemical markers of public health concern at small spatial scales: A scoping review. PLOS Global Public Health, 5(9), e0005058. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0005058
- Schmiege D, Salemi A, Högel C, Bettinger S, Schmidt TC, Moebus S. Impact of physicochemical parameters on nicotine metabolites and Bisphenol A in municipal wastewater: A pilot study in a German metropolitan area. Science of The Total Environment. 2025;967:178767. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.178767
- Schröder J, Moebus S, Schmiege D. Gesundheit in und durch Smart Cities. IzR Informationen zur Raumentwicklung – Ein Kosmos neuer Stadtwelten? 2024; 51(1):[82-93 pp.]. https://biblioscout.net/article/99.140005/izr202401008201
- Weber F-A, Schoth J, Jagemann P, Schmidt T, Widera M, Wilhelm A, Meyer F, Schmithausen R, Kraiselburd I, Moebus S, Schmiege D, Wintgens T, Linnemann V, Wolber J-L. WBEready–Wastewater-based epidemiology and preparedness: research needs for an adaptive monitoring in the Public Health Service. Das Gesundheitswesen. 2024;86(S 02). https://www.thieme-connect.com/products/ejournals/abstract/10.1055/s-0044-1781837
- Anthonj C, Stanglow SN, Leinen A, Flacke J, Manga M, Schmiege D, Grunwald N. “A question of human dignity”. Identifying solutions to improve WASH for people experiencing homelessness. A case study from Germany. Water Security. 2024;22:100176. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasec.2024.100176
- Schmiege D, Haselhoff T, Thomas A, Kraiselburd I, Meyer F, Moebus S. Small-scale wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) for infectious diseases and antibiotic resistance: A scoping review. International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health. 2024;259:114379. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheh.2024.114379
- Schmiege D, Kraiselburd I, Haselhoff T, Thomas A, Gosch J, Doerr A, Schoth J, Teichgräber B, Moebus S, Meyer F. Analyzing community wastewater in sub-sewersheds for the small-scale detection of SARS-CoV-2 variants in a German metropolitan area. Science of the Total Environment, 898, 165458. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165458
- Schmiege D, Haselhoff T, Ahmed S, Anastasiou OE, Moebus S. Associations Between Built Environment Factors and SARS-CoV-2 Infections at the Neighbourhood Level in a Metropolitan Area in Germany. Journal of Urban Health. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-022-00708-5
- Schmiege D, Falkenberg T, Moebus S, Kistemann T, Evers M. Associations between socio-spatially different urban areas and knowledge, attitudes, practices and antibiotic use: A cross-sectional study in the Ruhr Metropolis, Germany. PloS one. 2022;17(3):e0265204. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265204
- Schmiege D, Zacharias N, Sib E, Falkenberg T, Moebus S, Evers M, Kistemann T. Antibiotic resistance in wastewater from socio-spatially different communities. European Journal of Public Health. 2021;31(Supplement_3). https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckab165.627
- Schmiege D, Zacharias N, Sib E, Falkenberg T, Moebus S, Evers M, Kistemann T. Prevalence of multidrug-resistant and extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli in urban community wastewater. Science of The Total Environment. 2021;785:147269. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147269
- Schmiege D. Don’t waste water: wastewater surveillance, antimicrobial resistance and One Health.; 2020. https://www.ukbonn.de/site/assets/files/16451/water_and_risk_vol30_low.pdf