LINCOLN — Call it “CSI of the sewers,” but public works employees in Lincoln, Omaha and at least 11 other Nebraska communities are conducting surveillance of city wastewater to track the incidence of COVID-19.

Testing of this kind is a relatively new method in the world of public health and is giving epidemiologists and other health officials a new tool to track the spread of the coronavirus and decide the best strategies to deal with it.

Scott Holmes of the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department said a rise in COVID-19 in wastewater can be an early warning sign of an increase in positive tests in the community.

“It’s an additional test that gives us a little better heads up” on what’s ahead, Holmes said.

For the past year in Lincoln, the treatment plant has drawn a sample from incoming wastewater every half hour.

There was a rise in COVID cases in April, which raised readings in Lincoln to about 713,000 viral copies. The most recent tests, though, have been in the 600,000 range, Holmes said.

Other factors including positive tests, the positivity rate, hospital usage, and COVID deaths have been used to determine the local response.

The state is also tracking the mutation and evolution of COVID-19 through “genomic” testing to determine which variants are present in Nebraska.

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