IPAA Wastewater Award

Congratulations to our PathWest QEII Microbiology team, one of a group of agencies, to be recognised for its work with the WA Wastewater Surveillance Program at the 2025 Institute of Public Administration Australia WA (IPPA WA) Achievement Awards.

The Awards demonstrate through research excellence, innovation and collaboration, how PathWest plays a significant role in improving the health, wellbeing and safety of the Western Australian community.

The PathWest team, the Communicable Disease Control Directorate and Environmental Health, Water Corporation, Boorloo Public Health Unit (North Metropolitan Health Service) and WA Country Health Service won the Award for Best Practice in Collaboration Across Government Organisations (Category 1- project < $1million) and the Silver Award for Best Practice in Innovation (Category 1- project < $1million).

Western Australia was the first jurisdiction in Australia to develop and implement wastewater-based genomic sequencing for SARS-CoV-2 variants during the COVID-19 pandemic. This allowed the detection of emerging strains—such as Omicron sub-lineages—before widespread clinical confirmation.

The WA wastewater surveillance program has since expanded to include influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and other pathogens, emerging and reemerging pathogens such as poliovirus, measles, Japanese encephalitis virus and monkeypox virus.

This innovative method of surveillance can detect as few as one case in populations of hundreds of thousands, which can provide real-time insight to support public health decisions.