Sewage Testing

"Some scientists have recently turned to the sewer to develop a more accurate estimate of drug use. They examine tiny samples of raw sewage for the presence of illicit drugs and their metabolites in a science known as sewer epidemiology.⁴ These samples are essentially a diluted urine test collected from an entire community,⁵ making them akin to a “community urinalysis.”⁶ The basic science is simple: nearly every drug ingested into the body is eventually excreted and finds its way into the sewer system, allowing scientists to profile a community’s drug use based on objective data."