Some parts of the country are experiencing an uptick in the number of COVID-19 infections, as the BA.2 subvariant has become dominant. And over the course of the pandemic, communities across the country have been trying to get in front of potential outbreaks by looking for the virus in wastewater.

One of the earliest adopters of that method was the Water and Energy Sustainable Technology, known as the WEST Center, at the University of Arizona, which monitors wastewater from both on- and off-campus facilities.

Ian Pepper is the director of the WEST Center and a regents professor at the university. The Show spoke with him about how the last couple of years have gone for him.

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