Diabetes affects millions of people globally and can lead to other severe health complications when undiagnosed or not properly managed. The incidence of diabetes has rapidly increased over the past several years, however, not all individuals have access to affordable or convenient healthcare. We hypothesize that wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has the potential to assess community health status by analyzing biomarkers indicative of human health and disease, including diabetes. Used in tandem with current methods, monitoring indicators of diabetes in community wastewater could provide a comprehensive assessment tool for disease prevalence in large and small populations. Specifically, the proposed targeted biomarker evaluated in this study to indicate population-wide diabetes prevalence was 8-hydroxy-2’- deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG). This work combines a rigorous literature review and initial laboratory studies to explore the possibility of diabetes monitoring at the community level using WBE. Here, 24-hour composite wastewater samples were collected from within two wastewater sub-catchments of Greater Tempe, AZ. Overall goals of this study were to: i) Determine the feasibility to detect endogenous markers of diabetes in community wastewater; ii) Assess the potential impact of confounding factors, such as smoking, cancer, and atherosclerosis, through a literature analysis; and iii) Evaluate the socioeconomic status and demographics of the study population. Preliminary results of the experiments suggest this methodology to be feasible, as indicated by the observation of detectable signals of 8-OHdG in community wastewater collected from the sewer infrastructure; however, future work and continued experimentation will be required to address low signal intensity and assay precision and accuracy. Thus, the work presented here provides valuable proof-of-concept data, with detailed information on the method employed and identified opportunities to further determine the relationship between 8-OHdG concentrations in municipal wastewater and diabetes prevalence at the community level.

Diabetes affects millions of people globally and can lead to other severe health complications when undiagnosed or not properly managed. The incidence of diabetes has rapidly increased over the past several years, however, not all individuals have access to affordable or convenient healthcare. We hypothesize that wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has the potential to assess community health status by analyzing biomarkers indicative of human health and disease, including diabetes. Used in tandem with current methods, monitoring indicators of diabetes in community wastewater could provide a comprehensive assessment tool for disease prevalence in large and small populations. Specifically, the proposed targeted biomarker evaluated in this study to indicate population-wide diabetes prevalence was 8-hydroxy-2’-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG). This work combines a rigorous literature review and initial laboratory studies to explore the possibility of diabetes monitoring at the community level using WBE. Here, 24-hour composite wastewater samples were collected from within two wastewater sub-catchments of Greater Tempe, AZ. Overall goals of this study were to: i) Determine the feasibility to detect endogenous markers of diabetes in community wastewater; ii) Assess the potential impact of confounding factors, such as smoking, cancer, and atherosclerosis, through a literature analysis; and iii) Evaluate the socioeconomic status and demographics of the study population. Preliminary results of the experiments suggest this methodology to be feasible, as indicated by the observation of detectable signals of 8-OHdG in community wastewater collected from the sewer infrastructure; however, future work and continued experimentation will be required to address low signal intensity and assay precision and accuracy. Thus, the work presented here provides valuable proof-of-concept data, with detailed information on the method employed and identified opportunities to further determine the relationship between 8-OHdG concentrations in municipal wastewater and diabetes prevalence at the community level.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused uncertainty and changing public health recommendations across the world as our understanding of the SARS-CoV-2 virus changed. Following a preliminary assessment by the World Health Organization, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs were said to worsen symptoms and should be avoided before the recommendation was subsequently revoked. There also was pain associated with infection, leading to the hypothesis that use of over-the-counter pain medication increases may correlate with increases of SARS-CoV-2 infections. Wastewater samples were collected from two communities in Tempe, AZ from December 2019 to July 2020 (n = 35) and were analyzed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) to identify levels of acetaminophen, ibuprofen and their metabolites, acetaminophen sulfate and carboxy-ibuprofen. Results showed 100% detection frequency of all analytes in all samples across the duration of the study. Mass loadings of acetaminophen (918.4 g day-1 +/- 354.8 g day-1) were higher than ibuprofen (182.9 g day-1 +/- 49.8 g day-1), potentially driven by flushing behaviors rather than consumption activities. However, ibuprofen was more heavily consumed than acetaminophen across all days of the study period. Comparisons to COVID-19 clinical cases data showed increased use in ibuprofen with increases in clinical cases loads, while acetaminophen showed no change, suggesting ibuprofen was the over the counter (OTC) medication of choice during the first wave of the pandemic.

Synthetic plastics are ubiquitously used in a broad range of applications, including food and drink packaging. Plastics often contain chemical additives, including bisphenols, phthalates, and terephthalic acid, which can degrade under thermal stress. The environmental presence of these chemicals is cause for public concern, especially in consumer products that utilize plastic packaging, as many have been identified as endocrine disruptors. This study sought to determine exposure to phthalates, bisphenols, and terephthalic acid by quantifying a broad spectrum of these analytes within three bottled water brands at varying temperature exposure levels using the combination of solid phase extraction followed by isotope dilution liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Monobenzyl phthalate was detected in two of the three brands after bottles were heated to ~100 °C, ranging from 98 – 107 ng/L, and bisphenol A was detected in one brand at ~100 °C at an average concentration of 748 ± 36 ng/L. Subsequent mass loading calculations demonstrated that bioaccumulation of BPA from Brand C after high levels of temperature exposure well exceeded the tolerable daily intake (TDI). Findings in this study indicate that consumers should not be expected to incur harmful exposures to the target compounds under normal conditions as analytes were not measured in water bottle samples at 25 °C or 60 °C. Further studies should explore a more nuisance approach to heating over long durations, including that of ultraviolet exposure.

Perchloroethylene (PCE) is a highly utilized solvent in the dry cleaning industry because of its cleaning effectiveness and relatively low cost to consumers. According to the 2006 U.S. Census, approximately 28,000 dry cleaning operations used PCE as their principal cleaning agent. Widespread use of PCE is problematic because of its adverse impacts on human health and environmental quality. As PCE use is curtailed, effective alternatives must be analyzed for their toxicity and impacts to human health and the environment. Potential alternatives to PCE in dry cleaning include dipropylene glycol n-butyl ether (DPnB) and dipropylene glycol tert-butyl ether (DPtB), both promising to pose a relatively smaller risk. To evaluate these two alternatives to PCE, we established and scored performance criteria, including chemical toxicity, employee and customer exposure levels, impacts on the general population, costs of each system, and cleaning efficacy. The scores received for PCE were 5, 5, 3, 5, 3, and 3, respectively, and DPnB and DPtB scored 3, 1, 2, 2, 4, and 4, respectively. An aggregate sum of the performance criteria yielded a favorably low score of “16” for both DPnB and DPtB compared to “24” for PCE. We conclude that DPnB and DPtB are preferable dry cleaning agents, exhibiting reduced human toxicity and a lesser adverse impact on human health and the environment compared to PCE, with comparable capital investments, and moderately higher annual operating costs.

We designed and evaluated an active sampling device, using as analytical targets a family of pesticides purported to contribute to honeybee colony collapse disorder. Simultaneous sampling of bulk water and pore water was accomplished using a low-flow, multi-channel pump to deliver water to an array of solid-phase extraction cartridges. Analytes were separated using either liquid or gas chromatography, and analysis was performed using tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS). Achieved recoveries of fipronil and degradates in water spiked to nominal concentrations of 0.1, 1, and 10 ng/L ranged from 77 ± 12 to 110 ± 18%. Method detection limits (MDLs) were as low as 0.040–0.8 ng/L. Extraction and quantitation of total fiproles at a wastewater-receiving wetland yielded concentrations in surface water and pore water ranging from 9.9 ± 4.6 to 18.1 ± 4.6 ng/L and 9.1 ± 3.0 to 12.6 ± 2.1 ng/L, respectively. Detected concentrations were statistically indistinguishable from those determined by conventional, more laborious techniques (p > 0.2 for the three most abundant fiproles). Aside from offering time-averaged sampling capabilities for two phases simultaneously with picogram-per-liter MDLs, the novel methodology eliminates the need for water and sediment transport via in situ solid phase extraction.

The Future of Wastewater Sensing workshop is part of a collaboration between Arizona State University Center for Nanotechnology in Society in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society, the Biodesign Institute’s Center for Environmental Security, LC Nano, and the Nano-enabled Water Treatment (NEWT) Systems NSF Engineering Research Center. The Future of Wastewater Sensing workshop explores how technologies for studying, monitoring, and mining wastewater and sewage sludge might develop in the future, and what consequences may ensue for public health, law enforcement, private industry, regulations and society at large. The workshop pays particular attention to how wastewater sensing (and accompanying research, technologies, and applications) can be innovated, regulated, and used to maximize societal benefit and minimize the risk of adverse outcomes, when addressing critical social and environmental challenges.