Cary tracks opioid use by analyzing sewer data
This innovative approach utilizes drug-sniffing robots placed at key locations in the city's sewage system to analyze drug use trends.
Newsworthy
Sewage-sniffing robots may be the solution to city opioid crises | Smart Cities Dive
Smart Cities
Sewage-sniffing robots may be the solution to city opioid crises | Smart Cities Dive
How scientists want to use sewers to track the spread of opioids
A company says it can use water-sampling robots placed at strategic points in a sewer system to provide precise information about a community’s health.
How scientists want to use sewers to track the spread of opioids
Bloomberg - Are you a robot?
Bloomberg - Are you a robot?
Nova
Sewage-sampling robots are delivering near real-time data about a community’s drug usage.
Nova
404 - Not Found
404 - Not Found
Highlights
The city of Cary is using drug-sniffing robots in their sewer system to track opioid usage throughout the city.
This technology can differentiate between narcotics that have passed through a human body and those that have been flushed.
Strategic placement of the robots allows officials to map usage geographically, permitting targeted community outreach and prevention programs to reach the areas where they're needed most.
Summary
The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention reported that the national rate of fatal opioid overdoses in the US increased by 17% between 2015 and 2016. The report added further data that support the case that a national epidemic is taking place, killing 60,000 people annually. With a low crime rate, high median income, and a quiet, family-oriented atmosphere, the city of Cary doesn’t seem to be a likely place for illicit drugs to thrive. That image changed in 2017, however, when the city saw 46 opioid overdoses, a 70% increase over the previous year.
City officials decided to take action, partnering with Biobot Analytics as the first US city to test an innovative approach to addressing the drug problem: narcotics-sniffing robots in the sewers. The technology is based on a simple principle: it uses the collective sewage passing through a given location as a single stool and urine sample, testing it for the presence of opioid residue. Specific molecules are present when drugs pass through the human body, allowing researchers to differentiate between ingested narcotics and those that have been flushed down a toilet.
Robots have been installed at ten locations throughout the city. Over 24 hours, each robot pumps 2 ½ gallons of water through a filter, trapping dissolved chemicals and preserving them for analysis. Scientists can then evaluate the filters to estimate rates of both legal and illegal opioids, including morphine, hydromorphone, oxycodone, heroin, and fentanyl. The process is repeated every two weeks to track drug usage trends.
This technology is common in Europe but tends to centralize tests at wastewater treatment facilities. Government officials can determine citywide rates of abuse, but are unable to delve more deeply into the data since it’s gathered at a single point. Since Biobot’s technology places robots at strategic locations, it permits data analytics to collect much more detailed information. Municipal leaders can map the results, pinpointing trouble spots to specific areas and even neighborhoods.
Cary plans to use this information to drive targeted community outreach and prevention programs, addressing illegal narcotics use in the areas where it starts. This innovative approach could be one of the cornerstones in local government attempts to fight a growing, and fatal, epidemic.