California county starts monitoring wastewater for illicit drugs

As the COVID-19 outbreak winds down in California, one county is repurposing its wastewater monitoring program to combat the opioid epidemic.

In February, a pilot program to collect wastewater samples from Marin County’s sanitation agency and test them for chemicals like fentanyl, methamphetamines, cocaine, and nicotine began. Marin County lies north of San Francisco.

The local government believes the information may help with future intervention and preventive programs. An increase in the distribution of Narcan, which quickly reverses the effects of the illegal substance, is one possibility if opioids are prevalent in the samples. This would be especially helpful if the drug were administered during the first few minutes of an overdose.

“The overdose epidemic is a major public health concern. Every five days, one more person leaves Marin County “says Marin County’s public health officer, Dr. Matt Willis. As a result, “we truly think it’s vital for us to establish the same kind of surveillance tactics, the same kind of intelligence we had used to the COVID-19 pandemic,” in regards to the current overdose issue.

Drug abuse is a problem in Marin County and the rest of the United States. The number of fatal overdoses in the county increased from 30 in 2018 to 65 in 2021, as reported by the county’s health and human services department.

Since the county already has the infrastructure in place (the same method and partners were used to track the spread of the coronavirus), the pilot program can get up and running quickly.

Central Marin Sanitation Agency employees take a sample of wastewater twice a week, each time collecting 50 milliliters out of the daily 8 million gallons that flow into the San Rafael facility. The sinks, tubs, and showers in homes, restaurants, and factories all contribute to this effluent.

The next step is to send the sample to Biobot Analytics in Cambridge, MA. Scientists using biobots check the sample for medicines.

Biobot would not reveal how many counties in the United States do substance testing, but they did say they analyze samples from over 700 locations in over 50 countries. Sites that provide testing for infectious diseases, high-risk substances, or both are included.