[mirimir]

Interesting. That's also been done for recreational drugs. And artificial vanilla flavoring.

I wonder whether sampling from sewage pumping units could be done. That might produce higher resolution data. But getting representative samples would be harder. You'd probably need to take large samples, mix, and subsample.

[nradov]

Here's a recent wastewater analysis study showing the prevalence of several illegal drugs in Europe.

http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/topics/pods/waste-water-analysis...

[ddrt]

> This report is focused on illicit stimulants. No results for cannabis are reported because cannabis use is estimated by measuring its main metabolite (THC-COOH), which is the only suitable biomarker found so far, but is excreted in a low percentage. More research is needed to understand the excretion percentage of THC-COOH or find alternative biomarkers (Causanilles et al., 2017a).

this is the second sewage testing paper I’ve read today. Why are these so incredibly interesting and fun to read when compared to the other testing documents I’ve read haha.

[kijin]

It's a kind of hack on modern sanitation systems. It makes you realize that everyone is (literally!) leaking all sorts of information about what's in their bodies. You just need to know where to pick up that treasure trove of information. It tickles the hacker fantasies!

[zo1]

Also, I'm wondering at what point privacy-groups will start complaining about this sort of testing. In the future, the testing will get to a point where smaller and smaller parts of cities can be measured independently and that would yield policy-action by the government. E.g. "This area over here has lots of meth users, let's police that area more."

Or... They test everyone's sewage independently and privacy-advocate groups cry foul because sewage (and garbage) are personal information and the city can't use it to discriminate or punish people!

[Nasrudith]

Part of the issue with meth specifically is that there are legal 'cousins', although the expected levels of prescriptions differing could tell.

Really the sewage issue is just proof that the system is broken on multiple layers. First off is sticking with the war on drugs when it is clear that fighting abstract concepts or inanimate objects is like getting drunk and boxing with a lamppost - you just look stupid and hurt yourself. Second the precedents and doctrines of 'in plain view' of discards including what is essentially legally required. They were done in an era where the data would be useless to the police even if they could process it. Third, for all of their new data the process isn't actually improving things on any level. Fourth they are running on tautologies enforcing because they must enforce not because they have any vision for an outcome or a connection between their actions and results beyond 'because it is their job'.

[Mirioron]

Here's a horrifying thought:

"Smart" toilet/sink/pipe + sewage testing = data

[DownGoat]

Reminds me of an old "Bastard Operator From Hell" story. https://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/03/09/bofh_protecting_bod...

[mirimir]

Comment re Adult Swim riff: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22782448

[skunkworker]

I remember reading something about this about a decade ago maybe in wired or popular science?

It was interesting because some organizations didn’t want to know that level of detail, which drugs were being used when, how many students came to school drunk etc. and all by sampling the sewage system regularly

[JohnJamesRambo]

Can you talk about the vanilla a little more? I don’t get that one.

[mirimir]

> In the area around Puget Sound, the University of Washington team found, the spicy residues that remain in wastewater end up flowing into the sound's inland waterways.

> Of all the flavors trickling downstream, artificial vanilla dominates the sound, Keil said. For instance, the team found an average of about six milligrams of artificial vanilla per liter of water sampled.

> The region's sewage runoff contains more than 14 milligrams of vanilla per liter. This would be like spiking an Olympic-size swimming pool with approximately ten 4-ounce (113.4-gram) bottles of artificial vanilla.

https://web.archive.org/web/20170225090427/http://news.natio...

[refurb]

I'm not sure I'd assume that all of that vanillin would come from human sources.

The decomposition of wood creates vanillin, which I assume makes up most of what these folks found.

[mirimir]

Huh.

I see that some artificial vanillin is made from lignin, but I don't know whether natural wood decomposition creates vanillin. Do you have a reference for that?

[s_y_n_t_a_x]

lignin is wood (or rather it's a polymer in the cell walls of wood/plants)

[mirimir]

For sure. But the question is whether vanillin is produced during wood decay.

[soperj]

It literally says how much is contained in the sewage run off. You don't even have to click the link.