Assessing pharmaceutical and illicit drugs abuse in a university environment through wastewater analysis.
The Science of the total environment March 15, 2025 M Muñoz-Bartual, P Arjona-Mudarra, M Piñaga-Solé et al. 7 citations
Wastewater from the Campus of Valencia University, collected between 2023 and 2024, was analyzed for 40 psychoactive substances. Twenty-one substances were detected at least once. The most frequently found pharmaceuticals were the antidepressant venlafaxine, its metabolite O-desmethylvenlafaxine, escitalopram, and clorazepate, with concentrations up to 11,309 ng L-1. Among illicit drugs, cocaine and its metabolite benzoylecgonine were most common, with concentrations up to 980 and 5,699 ng L-1, respectively. Estimated mean consumption was highest for venlafaxine and O-desmethylvenlafaxine (489.0 and 37.2 mg day-1 per 1000 people), followed by cocaine (40.8), tramadol (30.9), MDMA (30.8), and amphetamine (17.0). The method demonstrates suitability for monitoring drug use trends via wastewater.