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Environmental and microbial factors shaping SARS-CoV-2 RNA decay in wastewater: insights from batch tests and a lab-scale sewer pipeline simulator
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  • Published: 19 March 2026

Environmental and microbial factors shaping SARS-CoV-2 RNA decay in wastewater: insights from batch tests and a lab-scale sewer pipeline simulator

  • JooAhn Jung1 na1,
  • Lan Hee Kim2 na1,
  • Sungpyo Kim3 &
  • …
  • Hyun Sik Jun1 

Scientific Reports , Article number:  (2026) Cite this article

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We are providing an unedited version of this manuscript to give early access to its findings. Before final publication, the manuscript will undergo further editing. Please note there may be errors present which affect the content, and all legal disclaimers apply.

Subjects

  • Environmental sciences
  • Microbiology
  • Water resources

Abstract

Wastewater-based surveillance (WBS) can provide early warning of outbreaks, but wastewater RNA signals may be underestimated due to analytical limitations and in-sewer attenuation driven by matrix conditions and conveyance. Using human coronavirus NL63 (HCoV-NL63) as a BSL-2 surrogate to characterize coronavirus RNA decay (distinct from SARS-CoV-2), we quantified loss kinetics as a function of pH (2, 5, 7, 8), temperature (20, 30 °C), microbial abundance, suspended solids (SS; 74–216 mg L− 1), and transport distance. Batch tests showed that higher microbial concentrations markedly increased decay rates: in raw wastewater at 30 °C, the first-order decay constant k reached 2.21 d− 1, whereas filtration and/or microbial suppression reduced k to 1.12–0.47 d− 1. A lab-scale sewer pipeline simulator further showed faster decay with increasing transport distance, and faster decay in wastewater than in dechlorinated tap water at 25 °C (k = 0.52 vs. 0.28 d− 1). Across the conditions evaluated, microbially mediated processes were the dominant drivers of viral RNA loss. These decay kinetics provide a basis to interpret—and, where appropriate, adjust—SARS-CoV-2 wastewater RNA measurements across diverse environmental and conveyance conditions.

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the staff of the Sejong Wastewater Treatment Plant for assistance with sample collection. We are also grateful to the Laboratory of Immune Regulation, Korea University and the Laboratory of Environmental Biomonitoring, Korea University, for their technical support during experiments.

Funding

This work was supported by the Korea Water Resources Corporation (K-water; open-innovation R&D project OTSK_2022_011); the Government-wide R&D Program to Advance Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Republic of Korea (RS-2023-KH140292); the Institute for Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation (IITP) through the ITRC support program (IITP-2025-RS-2023-00258971); and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) Basic Science Research Program funded by the Ministry of Education (2021R1I1A3056109).

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: JooAhn Jung and Lan Hee Kim.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, College of Science and Technology, Korea University, 2511 Sejong-ro, Sejong city, 30019, Republic of Korea

    JooAhn Jung & Hyun Sik Jun

  2. Research Institute for Advanced Industrial Technology, Korea University, 2511 Sejong-ro, Sejong city, 30019, Republic of Korea

    Lan Hee Kim

  3. Department of Environmental Systems Engineering, Korea University, 2511 Sejong-ro, Sejong city, 30019, Republic of Korea

    Sungpyo Kim

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JooAhn Jung conceived and designed the study; performed data curation, formal analysis, and investigation; developed the methodology; conducted validation; prepared the visualizations; and drafted and edited the manuscript. Lan Hee Kim contributed to conceptualization, data curation, formal analysis, funding acquisition, investigation, methodology development, project administration, validation, visualization, and supervision, and drafted the original manuscript and revised it critically. Sungpyo Kim contributed to conceptualization, formal analysis, funding acquisition, methodology, project administration, and resources, and provided supervision, validation, visualization, and critical review and editing. Hyun Sik Jun contributed to conceptualization, formal analysis, funding acquisition, methodology, project administration, and resources, and provided supervision, validation, visualization, and critical review and editing. All authors read and approved of the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Sungpyo Kim or Hyun Sik Jun.

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Jung, J., Kim, L.H., Kim, S. et al. Environmental and microbial factors shaping SARS-CoV-2 RNA decay in wastewater: insights from batch tests and a lab-scale sewer pipeline simulator. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-44857-y

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  • Received: 10 October 2025

  • Accepted: 16 March 2026

  • Published: 19 March 2026

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-44857-y

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Keywords

  • Wastewater-based surveillance
  • Viral RNA decay kinetics
  • Coronavirus RNA persistence
  • Lab-scale sewer system simulator
  • Human coronavirus NL63 surrogate
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