The spatial epidemiology of cocaine, methamphetamine and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) use: a demonstration using a population measure of community drug load derived from municipal wastewater.

AIMS: To determine the utility of community-wide drug testing with wastewater samples as a population measure of community drug use and to test the hypothesis that the association with urbanicity would vary for three different stimulant drugs of abuse. DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS: Single-day samples were obtained from a convenience sample of 96 municipalities representing 65% of the population of the State of Oregon. MEASUREMENTS: Chemical analysis of 24-hour composite influent samples for benzoylecgonine (BZE, a cocaine metabolite), methamphetamine and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). The distribution of community index drug loads accounting for total wastewater flow (i.e. dilution) and population are reported. FINDINGS: The distribution of wastewater-derived drug index loads was found to correspond with expected epidemiological drug patterns. Index loads of BZE were significantly higher in urban areas and below detection in many rural areas. Conversely, methamphetamine was present in all municipalities, with no significant differences in index loads by urbanicity. MDMA was at quantifiable levels in fewer than half the communities, with a significant trend towards higher index loads in more urban areas. CONCLUSION; This demonstration provides the first evidence of the utility of wastewater-derived community drug loads for spatial analyses. Such data have the potential to improve dramatically the measurement of the true level and distribution of a range of drugs. Drug index load data provide information for all people in a community and are potentially applicable to a much larger proportion of the total population than existing measures.

Occurrence and mass flows of fluorochemicals in the Glatt Valley watershed, Switzerland.

Fluorochemicals are persistent contaminants that are globally distributed in air, water, sediments, and biota. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) play an important role in mitigating pollutant releases from municipalities to aquatic and terrestrial environments. However, because WWTPs are point sources of fluorochemicals, it is important to understand their contribution to fluorochemical burdens in the greater context of watersheds. To this end, over a 1 week period, the mass flows of 11 fluorochemicals from seven WWTPs that discharge effluent into the Glatt River in Switzerland were measured and compared to the measured mass flows within the Glatt River. Overall, the fluorochemicals were not removed efficiently during wastewater treatment. Effluents from WWTPs and Glatt River water were dominated by perfluorooctane sulfonate, which was detected in all samples, followed by perfluorohexane sulfonate and perfluorooctanoate. The mass flows of fluorochemicals emanating from WWTPs were found to be conserved within the 35 km Glatt River, which indicates that input from the WWTPs is additive and that removal within the Glatt River is not significant. Per capita discharges of fluorochemicals were calculated from the populations served by the WWTPs studied; the values determined also account for the fluorochemical content of Lake Greifen (Greifensee), which is a lake at the headwaters of the Glatt River that also receives treated wastewater.

Eliminating solid phase extraction with large-volume injection LC/MS/MS: analysis of illicit and legal drugs and human urine indicators in U.S. wastewaters.

Large-volume (1800 microL) injection (LVI) followed by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry was developed and optimized to eliminate the need for off- and on-line solid phase extraction as a sample preparation step. Centrifugation of raw municipal influent followed by LVI was optimized for the routine determination of illicit drugs and related substances in municipal wastewaters. The accuracy of the method is demonstrated by standard addition for analytes with concentrations ranging from 4 to 3,500,000 ng/L. Precision, as indicated by relative standard deviation is <12% within a day and < or =20% for between-days for analytes with corresponding stable-isotope-labeled internal standards. Instrumental detection limits range from 0.5 to 4 ng/L while lower limits of quantification range from 2.5 to 10 ng/L The method is demonstrated on wastewater treatment plant influents (24 h, flow-normalized) collected from seven municipalities located in the US. Methamphetamine concentrations and loads are the greatest yet reported while cocaine concentrations and index loads are similar to European locations. Creatinine is introduced as human urine indicatorthat can be potentially used as an alternative to population estimates for indexing illicit drug loads for different municipalities.