Enteric pathogens in soil adjacent to public waste bins in Maputo, Mozambique offers potential for environmental surveillance.

Wastewater surveillance has been widely adopted since the COVID-19 pandemic, but non-sewered (e.g., onsite) sanitation is a common form of sanitation in cities of low- and middle-income countries. Environmental surveillance in these settings requires alternatives to wastewater. We collected 81 soil samples adjacent to public waste bins inside the sewered and non-sewered areas of Maputo and a 150-meter-wide buffer zone between the two areas, as well as from subsistence farms near the wastewater treatment plant for comparison. We cultured Escherichia coli (E. coli) and determined the prevalence of 29 unique enteric pathogens via RT-qPCR. E. coli concentrations were significantly higher (p