The DroMedArio project analyzes addictive substances, pharmaceuticals, and selected metabolic products in wastewater to use them as independent indicators of consumption at the population level.
Starting in 2021, the project is a collaboration between Eawag and UNIL, commissioned by the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH). DroMedArio is the German acronym for "Drugs, Medicaments, Alcohol and tobacco Residues: Wastewater-based epidemiology in Switzerland."
Over a four-year period (2021-2024), various markers were monitored in wastewater:
- Drugs: cocaine (benzoylecgonine), crack (AEME), amphetamine, methamphetamine, ecstasy (MDMA) and cannabis (THC-COOH).
- Opioids: cough suppressants (codeine, dextromethorphan), heroin (morphine), methadone, oxycodone and tramadol.
- Other medications: antidepressants (Citalopram, Trazodone and Venlafaxine), stimulants (Ritalin), sedatives (Oxazepam), anesthetics (Ketamine), antibiotics (Sulfamethoxazole and Trimethoprim), anticonvulsants (Carbamazepine).
- Alcohol, tobacco and nicotine
Monitoring these markers in wastewater enables the estimation of temporal trends and spatial differences in consumption.
As part of the project, a 24-hour composite sample is collected every 13 days from ten Swiss wastewater treatment plants. Together, the participating wastewater treatment plants process the sewage of almost 2 million people, which corresponds to about 23% of the Swiss population.
Link to the project dashboard: www.dromedario.ch
