Three years of wastewater surveillance for new psychoactive substances from 16 countries

Richard Bade¹, Nikolaos Rousis¹, Sangeet Adhikari^{2

3}, Christine Baduel⁴, Lubertus Bijlsma⁵, Erasmia Bizani⁶, Tim Boogaerts⁷, Daniel A Burgard⁸, Sara Castiglioni⁹, Andrew Chappell¹⁰, Adrian Covaci⁷, Erin M Driver^{3

11}, Fernando Fabriz Sodre¹², Despo Fatta-Kassinos¹³, Aikaterini Galani⁶, Cobus Gerber¹⁴, Emma Gracia-Lor¹⁵, Elisa Gracia-Marín⁵, Rolf U Halden^{2

3

11

16}, Ester Heath¹⁷, Felix Hernandez⁵, Emma Jaunay¹⁴, Foon Yin Lai¹⁸, Heon-Jun Lee¹⁹, Maria Laimou-Geraniou¹⁷, Jeong-Eun Oh¹⁹, Kristin Olafsdottir²⁰, Kaitlyn Phung¹⁰, Marco Pineda Castro²¹, Magda Psichoudaki¹³, Xueting Shao²², Noelia Salgueiro-Gonzalez⁹, Rafael Silva Feitosa¹², Cezar Silvino Gomes²³, Bikram Subedi²⁴, Arndís Sue Ching Löve²⁰, Nikolaos Thomaidis⁶, Diana Tran⁸, Alexander van Nuijs⁷, Taja Verovšek¹⁷, Degao Wang²², Jason M White¹⁴, Viviane Yargeau²¹, Ettore Zuccato⁹, Jochen F Mueller¹

Affiliations

¹ Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS), The University of Queensland, 20 Cornwall Street, Woolloongabba, QLD 4102, Australia.
² School of Sustainable Engineering and Built Environment, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85281, United States.
³ Biodesign Center for Environmental Health Engineering, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, 1001 S. McAllister Ave., Tempe, AZ 85281, United States.
⁴ Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IRD, Grenoble INP, IGE, Grenoble, France.
⁵ Environmental and Public Health Analytical Chemistry, Research Institute for Pesticides and Water, University Jaume I, Avda, Sos Baynat s/n, E-12071 Castellón, Spain.
⁶ Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis Zografou, 15771 Athens, Greece.
⁷ Toxicological Centre, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Antwerp, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium.
⁸ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, WA 98416, United States.
⁹ Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Via Mario Negri 2, 20156, Milan, Italy.
¹⁰ Institute of Environmental Science and Research Limited (ESR), Christchurch Science Centre: 27 Creyke Road, Ilam, Christchurch 8041, New Zealand.
¹¹ AquaVitas, LLC, Scottsdale, Arizona, 85251, United States.
¹² Institute of Chemistry, University of Brasília, Brasília, DF, 70910-000, Brazil.
¹³ Nireas-International Water Research Centre and Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Cyprus, P.O. Box 20537, 1678, Nicosia, Cyprus.
¹⁴ Health and Biomedical Innovation, UniSA: Clinical and Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide 5001, South Australia, Australia.
¹⁵ Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Complutense University of Madrid, Avenida Complutense s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
¹⁶ OneWaterOneHealth, Arizona State University Foundation, 1001 S. McAllister Avenue, Tempe, AZ 85287-8101, United States.
¹⁷ Jožef Stefan Institute and International Postgraduate School, Jamova 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
¹⁸ Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), SE-75007 Uppsala, Sweden.
¹⁹ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Pusan National University, Jangjeon-dong, Geumjeong-gu, Busan 46241, Republic of Korea.
²⁰ University of Iceland, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Hofsvallagata 53, 107 Reykjavik, Iceland.
²¹ Department of Chemical Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Abbreviation.
²² College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Dalian Maritime University, No. 1 Linghai Road, Dalian, 116026, P. R. China.
²³ Laboratory of Forensic Chemistry, Brazilian Federal Police, PB, Brazil.
²⁴ Department of Chemistry, Murray State University, Murray, Kentucky 42071-3300, United States.

PMID: 37143710
PMCID: PMC10151418
DOI: 10.1016/j.wroa.2023.100179

Three years of wastewater surveillance for new psychoactive substances from 16 countries

Richard Bade et al. Water Res X. 2023.

. 2023 Apr 6:19:100179.

doi: 10.1016/j.wroa.2023.100179. eCollection 2023 May 1.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS), The University of Queensland, 20 Cornwall Street, Woolloongabba, QLD 4102, Australia.
² School of Sustainable Engineering and Built Environment, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85281, United States.
³ Biodesign Center for Environmental Health Engineering, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, 1001 S. McAllister Ave., Tempe, AZ 85281, United States.
⁴ Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IRD, Grenoble INP, IGE, Grenoble, France.
⁵ Environmental and Public Health Analytical Chemistry, Research Institute for Pesticides and Water, University Jaume I, Avda, Sos Baynat s/n, E-12071 Castellón, Spain.
⁶ Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis Zografou, 15771 Athens, Greece.
⁷ Toxicological Centre, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Antwerp, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium.
⁸ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, WA 98416, United States.
⁹ Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Via Mario Negri 2, 20156, Milan, Italy.
¹⁰ Institute of Environmental Science and Research Limited (ESR), Christchurch Science Centre: 27 Creyke Road, Ilam, Christchurch 8041, New Zealand.
¹¹ AquaVitas, LLC, Scottsdale, Arizona, 85251, United States.
¹² Institute of Chemistry, University of Brasília, Brasília, DF, 70910-000, Brazil.
¹³ Nireas-International Water Research Centre and Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Cyprus, P.O. Box 20537, 1678, Nicosia, Cyprus.
¹⁴ Health and Biomedical Innovation, UniSA: Clinical and Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide 5001, South Australia, Australia.
¹⁵ Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Complutense University of Madrid, Avenida Complutense s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
¹⁶ OneWaterOneHealth, Arizona State University Foundation, 1001 S. McAllister Avenue, Tempe, AZ 85287-8101, United States.
¹⁷ Jožef Stefan Institute and International Postgraduate School, Jamova 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
¹⁸ Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), SE-75007 Uppsala, Sweden.
¹⁹ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Pusan National University, Jangjeon-dong, Geumjeong-gu, Busan 46241, Republic of Korea.
²⁰ University of Iceland, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Hofsvallagata 53, 107 Reykjavik, Iceland.
²¹ Department of Chemical Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Abbreviation.
²² College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Dalian Maritime University, No. 1 Linghai Road, Dalian, 116026, P. R. China.
²³ Laboratory of Forensic Chemistry, Brazilian Federal Police, PB, Brazil.
²⁴ Department of Chemistry, Murray State University, Murray, Kentucky 42071-3300, United States.

PMID: 37143710
PMCID: PMC10151418
DOI: 10.1016/j.wroa.2023.100179

Abstract

The proliferation of new psychoactive substances (NPS) over recent years has made their surveillance complex. The analysis of raw municipal influent wastewater can allow a broader insight into community consumption patterns of NPS. This study examines data from an international wastewater surveillance program that collected and analysed influent wastewater samples from up to 47 sites in 16 countries between 2019 and 2022. Influent wastewater samples were collected over the New Year period and analysed using validated liquid chromatography - mass spectrometry methods. Over the three years, a total of 18 NPS were found in at least one site. Synthetic cathinones were the most found class followed by phenethylamines and designer benzodiazepines. Furthermore, two ketamine analogues, one plant based NPS (mitragynine) and methiopropamine were also quantified across the three years. This work demonstrates that NPS are used across different continents and countries with the use of some more evident in particular regions. For example, mitragynine has highest mass loads in sites in the United States, while eutylone and 3-methylmethcathinone increased considerably in New Zealand and in several European countries, respectively. Moreover, 2F-deschloroketamine, an analogue of ketamine, has emerged more recently and could be quantified in several sites, including one in China, where it is considered as one of the drugs of most concern. Finally, some NPS were detected in specific regions during the initial sampling campaigns and spread to additional sites by the third campaign. Hence, wastewater surveillance can provide an insight into temporal and spatial trends of NPS use.

Keywords: 3-methylmethcathinone; Illicit drugs; Monitoring; Public health; Wastewater analysis.

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Conflict of interest statement

RUH and EMD are cofounders of AquaVitas, LLC, Phoenix, Arizona, United States, an Arizona State University startup company providing commercial services in wastewater-based epidemiology. RUH also is the founder of OneWaterOneHealth, a nonprofit project of the Arizona State University Foundation.

Figures

Image, graphical abstract — **Graphical abstract**

Fig 1 — **Fig. 1**
Estimated excreted mass loads of 3-MMC from all sites over the three-year sampling period. Note: 2019–20 and 2020–21 values are taken from previous publications (Bade et al., 2021; Bade et al., 2022). Sites are ordered by continent. Countries with multiple sites are numbered according to Table S3. Only sites where the compound was found are included in the figure. *: Statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) following independent t-tests (for sites with two years of data) or a one-way ANOVA, followed by a pairwise t-test with Bonferroni correction (for sites with three years of data). ES: Spain; IT: Italy; NL: the Netherlands’ BE: Belgium; NZ: New Zealand; FR: France; GR: Greece; IS: Iceland; SE: Sweden; SI: Slovenia; US: United States.

Fig 2 — **Fig. 2**
Estimated excreted mass loads of eutylone from all sites. Figure is separated to show the sites with highest levels (A) and the lower levels (B). Note: 2020–21 values are taken from a previous publications (Bade et al., 2022). Sites are ordered by continent. Countries with multiple sites are numbered according to Table S3. Only sites where the compound was found are included in the figure. *: Statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) following independent t-tests (for sites with two years of data). NZ: New Zealand; AU: Australia; CA: Canada; US: United States; BE: Belgium; BR: Brazil; ES: Spain; GR: Greece; IT: Italy; KR: Republic of Korea; SI: Slovenia.

Fig 3: — **Fig. 3**
Estimated excreted mass loads of mitragynine from all sites from the 2021–22 collection. Sites are ordered by continent. Figure is separated to show the sites with highest levels (A) and the lower levels (B). D = detected at levels below LOQ. Countries with multiple sites are numbered according to Table S3. Only sites where the compound was found are included in the figure. AU: Australia; BE: Belgium; BR: Brazil; CA: Canada; CY: Cyprus; ES: Spain; FR: France; GR: Greece; IS: Iceland; IT: Italy; KR: Republic of Korea; NZ: New Zealand; SE: Sweden; SI: Slovenia US: United States.

Fig 4: — **Fig. 4**
Estimated excreted mass loads of 2F-DCK from all sites from the 2021–22 collection. Sites are ordered by continent. Countries with multiple sites are numbered according to Table S3. Only sites where the compound was found are included in the figure. CA: Canada; CN: China; ES: Spain; FR: France; IS: Iceland; IT: Italy; US: United States.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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Three years of wastewater surveillance for new psychoactive substances from 16 countries

Affiliations

Three years of wastewater surveillance for new psychoactive substances from 16 countries

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References