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The Honorable Tom Cole Chairman U.S. House Committee on Appropriations Room H-307, U.S. Capitol Washington, D.C. 20515	The Honorable Rosa DeLauro Ranking Member U.S. House Committee on Appropriations 1036 Longworth House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515
The Honorable Susan Collins Chair U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations Room S-128, U.S. Capitol Washington, D.C. 20510	The Honorable Patty Murray Vice Chair U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations Room S-128, U.S. Capitol Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Chairman Cole, Ranking Member DeLauro, Chair Collins and Vice Chair Murray,

The undersigned organizations urge the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to support at least a $20 million increase for the National Wastewater Surveillance System within the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention’s Emerging Infectious Diseases program at the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID) in the fiscal year (FY) 2025 Labor, Health, Human Service and Education (Labor-HHS) appropriations bill, allowing the CDC to detect and track emerging infectious diseases. 

The CDC’s Emerging Infectious Disease program protects Americans from outbreaks by building and sustaining public health laboratory capacity, developing diagnostic tests for emerging infectious diseases and responding to emerging outbreaks. The National Wastewater Surveillance System works in concert with these programs, serving as an early warning system for outbreaks. An increase of $20 million for Emerging Infectious Diseases will allow the CDC to maintain wastewater surveillance in a limited number of states, covering about 20% of the U.S. population.

Wastewater monitoring allows public health professionals and communities to react in real time to prevent disease spread by identifying the presence of pathogens without the need for individuals to be tested or to show symptoms of infections. The CDC is currently using wastewater surveillance to monitor highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1), allowing public health officials to detect outbreaks without patients seeking clinical care. 

The National Wastewater Surveillance System program began as a pilot program under the 2020 CARES Act and was expanded with supplemental funding through subsequent legislation addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, wastewater surveillance has continued to be a critical tool in detecting and monitoring infectious diseases, including seasonal flu, mpox and RSV. The CDC is also investigating the use of wastewater surveillance for dengue virus and Orungo virus response. CDC has been able to build limited surveillance capacity through supplemental funding; however, without adequate base funding, the agency will not be able to maintain a national surveillance program. 

We urge you to include at least $20 million in additional funding to the Emerging Infectious Diseases program in the final FY25 Labor-HHS appropriations bill, and we look forward to working with you on this important topic. Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,

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AdvaMedDx
American Institute of Biological Sciences
American Jail Association
American Public Health Association
American Society for Clinical Pathology
American Society for Virology
Association for Molecular Pathology
Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology
Association of State and Territorial Health Officials
Big Cities Health Coalition
Biophysical Society
Centivax, Inc
Clear Labs
Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists
Entomological Society of America
Gerontological Society of America
National Association of Clean Water Agencies
National Association of County & City Health Officials
National Environmental Health Association
National Network of Public Health Institutes
Rice University
Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America
Society for Public Health Education
Trust for America’s Health
University of Connecticut
University of Denver
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Water Environment Federation