Drugs of Abuse and Metabolites in Urban Wastewater: A Case Study, Rio De Janeiro Municipality, Brazil

Aldo Pacheco Ferreira

The use of drugs of abuse is a concern for social and public health aspects, but also for environmental contamination. However, the study of these pollutants becomes important since the magnitude, nature and consumption patterns can be evaluated through the range of compounds detected in wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). Wastewater-based epidemiology depend on the principle that traces of compounds, which a population is exposed to or consume, are excreted unchanged or as metabolites in urine and/or faeces, and at last end up in the sewer network. Quantifying target metabolic residues in raw urban wastewater permits identifying the exposure or use of substances of interest in a community. For this purpose, it was used an HPLC-MS/MS analytical method to assess the concentrations of 2 drug of abuses and metabolites (cocaine and cannabis) in influent samples from Penha WWTP and Ilha do Governador WWTP, in Rio de Janeiro Municipality. A systematic use of cocaine and cannabis was identified by detection in all samples analyzed. This study corroborates with other findings related to the methodological approach which largely can be applied to monitor the use of drug of abuses, giving important subsidies to both environmental and health control systems.

https://doi.org/10.31871/WJRR.9.4.3