The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed many knowledge gaps with implications toward the speed and nature of our response to contain, assess risk, and mitigate. The routine discharge of treated and untreated wastewater into rivers and coastal waters has placed SARS-CoV-2 viability in wastewater at the centre of an emerging hazard and potential risk to water industry workers and the public who come into contact with sewage-impacted water. Here we provide a review of the SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 primary literature that presents the evidence base pertaining to the key questions of whether the virus is shed in stool and urine, is recoverable, and infectious in wastewater and sludge. We discuss the challenges posed by the current literature base and the extent to which the current evidence is fit for the purpose of informing robust human and environmental risk assessments.