Department
Public Works
Requested Action (Identify appropriate Action or Motion, purpose, cost, timeframe, etc.)
title
Request approval of a Materials Transfer Agreement (MTA) between Fulton County and Verily Life Sciences LLC for participation in COVID testing of wastewater program through Emory University, the District-wide Single-Family Residential Toilet Retrofit program for one year (12 months), effective upon execution. (APPROVED)
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Requirement for Board Action (Cite specific Board policy, statute or code requirement)
Pursuant to O.C.G.A. Section 36-10-1, all contracts with Fulton County must be in writing and entered on the meeting minutes of the Board of Commissioners;
Strategic Priority Area related to this item (If yes, note strategic priority area below)
Health and Human Services
Commission Districts Affected
All Districts ☒
District 1 ☐
District 2 ☐
District 3 ☐
District 4 ☐
District 5 ☐
District 6 ☐
Is this a purchasing item?
No
Summary & Background (First sentence includes Agency recommendation. Provide an executive summary of the action that gives an overview of the relevant details for the item.)
Scope of Work:
Verily Life Sciences, LLC is working with Emory University to sample untreated wastewater for the COVID virus. The testing program will track the concentration of the COVID virus on a weekly basis and should be able to tell how prevalent COVID is within a subsection of Fulton County based on the wastewatershed. Fulton County Department of Public Works has agreed to participate in this testing program and will collect the requested samples three times a week at each of the four (4) wastewater treatment facilities (Little River, Big Creek, Johns Creek Environmental Campus, and Camp Creek) as well as 20 manhole locations throughout the watershed. Verily Life Sciences, LLC has requested that Fulton County execute the agreement in substantially the form included here, which shall be reviewed by the County Attorney’s Office and amended as necessary to protect the County’s interests.
Verily Life Sciences, LLC will provide Public Works the necessary containers to collect the untreated wastewater and the handle the shipping of the containers to their laboratory for testing. Fulton County will be responsible for collecting the samples and storing the containers until they are shipped to the laboratory.
Community Impact:
Although testing continues to be available in the community, the frequency of testing that people are undertaking has dramatically decreased. Therefore, the reported numbers of COVID cases may not be as accurate as they have been in the past. Emory University has begun testing the wastewater for the COVID virus. Emory staff believe that they can accurate track the presence of COVID in a community through wastewater. This should allow Emory, and the general public, to better understand the prevalence of COVID in a subsection of Fulton County.
Department Recommendation:
The Department of Public Works recommends that the BOC enter into this MTA.
Project Implications:
The collection of the samples will require some additional work on staff, but Public Works believes that the additional work will be offset by the benefit of knowing the COVID trends.
Community Issues/Concerns: No issues/concerns have been raised by the Community.
Department Issues/Concerns: No issues/concerns have been raised by the Department of Public Works.