Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) is an established tool to estimate population level exposure to a wide range of pollutants (i.e. pesticides, phtalates, phosphorus flame retardants) through quantitative measurement of endogenous and exogenous biomarkers excreted by humans in wastewater. Furthermore, WBE already complements existing epidemiology-based estimation techniques of illicit drug use and more recently has provided human exposure estimates of oxidative stress and allergen biomarkers. Future strategies have also been discussed to assess measurement of population health markers and biological markers of microbial exposure and disease. However, while the WBE portfolio is well-established, there are few cases where WBE tools have been specifically applied to resolve specific problems and exploited to create real value. Examples include the national wastewater monitoring program in Australia, the cooperation with the Dutch Forensic Institute to help detecting clandestine synthetic drug laboratories or the well-established European monitoring program run by the SCORE network in cooperation with the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. Yet, these are mainly formal collaborations rather than real products of value. In this study, we show three WBE tools that could potentially be implemented in future data platforms creating real value to connect with stakeholders and public institutions, following some of the United Nations sustainable development goals: 1) A public health platform merging air quality measurements with wastewater analysis for real-time assessment of the city pollution and its impact in public health in order to help implementing interventions and steps for improvement at city-level. 2) Develpment of a European early warning system for a potential opioid epidemic using “non-detected” peaks. This tool can be implemented by using all the variables found in the equation to back-calculate the consumption loads of a certain substance when de target compounds is not identified. Defining the population threshold (as the minimum number of opioids users within the catchment) together with the drug average dose will let us define a “safety” confidence interval for a city-level. 3) Implementation and commercialization of a population dynamics model using wastewater to enhance the engagement with the wastewater treatment plants. First step for waste monetization to create the basis of a network with financial viability.

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) toolkit platform: Could WBE be a Spotify, Netflix or Twitter like-platform for population health?

2019 Fall National Meeting

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