ME COVID-19 wastewater surveillance

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Maine Freedom of Access Act, I hereby request the following records:

1) Any applications and/or related documents submitted by the Maine Center for Disease Control & Prevention to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS) for funding to conduct COVID-19 surveillance in Maine wastewater/sewersheds.

2) For all sewersheds/wastewater treatment plants that are conducting COVID-19 surveillance in the state, all documentation that describes the endpoint of that information, e.g. a database, and all documentation about the layout of the database’s tables and fields, and that provides the definitions of any field names, codes, and abbreviations used in the database.

The Documenting COVID-19 project, housed at MuckRock, is a nonprofit organization working on behalf of news organizations, academics and other public bodies to provide clear, timely information for public dissemination. We have recently published our findings in The New York Times, The Washington Post and other publications.

This information is in the public interest as COVID-19 remains a threat to public health. If access to the records I am requesting will take longer than the required amount of time, please contact me with information about when I might expect copies or the ability to inspect the requested records.

If you have any questions about this request, you can reach me at 860-805-4995.

I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as we believe this request is in the public interest, as suggested but not stipulated by 1 M.R.S.A. § 408(6). The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of the news media/press and is made in the process of news gathering and not for commercial usage.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Betsy Ladyzhets

Hi Celeste,

Thank you for your help with this request, and for providing the data from LuminUltra! I really appreciate it.

I'm wondering if you are also able to provide any documents in response to the first part of my request:
1) Any applications and/or related documents submitted by the Maine Center for Disease Control & Prevention to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS) for funding to conduct COVID-19 surveillance in Maine wastewater/sewersheds.

I've attached documents that I received from the Illinois Department of Public Health in response to a similar request (https://www.muckrock.com/foi/illinois-168/il-covid-19-wastewater-surveillance-128674/), for your reference.

Thanks,
Betsy

Hi Celeste,

I see, thank you for answering my question! This is very helpful information for me, I appreciate it.

Best,
Betsy Ladyzhets