Potential impact of the sewer system on the applicability of alcohol and tobacco biomarkers in wastewater‐based epidemiology

• Published in: Drug testing and analysis Vol. 10; no. 3; pp. 530 - 538
• Main Authors: Banks, Andrew P.W., Lai, Foon Yin, Mueller, Jochen F., Jiang, Guangming, Carter, Steve, Thai, Phong K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01-03-2018
• Subjects: Alcohol; Alcohol Drinking - epidemiology; Biomarkers; Biomarkers - analysis; Cotinine - analogs & derivatives; Cotinine - analysis; degradation; Drug testing; Epidemiology; Ethanol - analysis; Glucuronates - analysis; Humans; Nicotiana - chemistry; Sewage - analysis; sewer biofilms; sewer reactor; Sewer systems; stability; Sulfuric Acid Esters - analysis; Tobacco; Tobacco Use - epidemiology; Wastewater - analysis; Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis; sewer biofilms; degradation; wastewater analysis; sewer reactor; biomarkers; stability
• ISSN: 1942-7603; 1942-7611
• DOI: 10.1002/dta.2246

Understanding the actual consumption of alcohol and tobacco in the population is important for forming public health policy. For this purpose, wastewater‐based epidemiology has been applied as a complementary method to estimate the overall alcohol and tobacco consumption in different communities. However, the stability of their consumption biomarkers – ethyl sulfate, ethyl glucuronide, cotinine, and trans‐3′‐hydroxycotinine – in the sewer system has not yet been assessed. This study aimed to conduct such assessment using sewer reactors mimicking conditions of rising main, gravity sewer, and wastewater alone, over a 12‐hour period. The results show that cotinine and trans‐3′‐hydroxycotinine are relatively stable under all sewer conditions while ethyl sulfate was only stable in wastewater alone and gradually degraded in rising main and gravity sewer conditions. Ethyl glucuronide quickly degraded in all reactors. These findings suggest that cotinine and trans‐3′‐hydroxycotinine are good biomarkers to estimate tobacco consumption; ethyl sulfate may be used as a biomarker to estimate alcohol consumption, but its in‐sewer loss should be accounted for in the calculation of consumption estimates. Ethyl glucuronide, and probably most of glucuronide compounds, are not suitable biomarkers to be used in wastewater‐based epidemiology due to their in‐sewer instability.
Tobacco consumption can be measured with high confidence through wastewater‐based epidemiology, as its biomarkers are stable in the sewer system while monitoring alcohol consumption is more difficult because its biomarkers degrade rapidly in‐sewer.