Dr. Lauren Stadler describes the connection between environmental microbiology and bioinformatics. We start with an explanation of wastewater monitoring including how it is collected, cleaned, gotten rid of, monitored, and studied. Dr. Stadler defines and gives a bit of history on wastewater-based epidemiology. Dr. Stadler discusses how SARS-CoV-2 environmental monitoring could be widened and further developed to monitor other pathogens such as influenza. We then discuss the technical aspects of wastewater and environmental monitoring. Final topics include environmental monitoring after hurricane Harvey and engineering our drinking water.