Quality assurance/quality control in wastewater sampling

Ort, Christoph

doi:10.4155/ebo.13.476

Cited by 6 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Residual water collection at a WWTP in the context of drug consumption estimation must be representative of the 24 h of the day ( Ort, 2014 ). One of the limitations of the use of WBE for drug consumption estimation is associated with the limited temporal representativeness, which must be taken into consideration during data interpretation ( Baz-Lomba et al, 2016 ).…”

Section: Sampling Strategies For the Estimation Of Drug Consumption Bmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Illicit Drug Consumption by Wastewater Analysis Using Polar Organic Chemical Integrative Sampler as a Monitoring Tool

2021

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Illicit drug abuse is a worldwide social and health problem, and monitoring illicit drug use is of paramount importance in the context of public policies. It is already known that relevant epidemiologic information can be obtained from the analysis of urban residual waters. This approach, named wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE), is based on the measurement of specific markers, resulting from human biotransformation of the target drugs, as indicators of the consumption of the compounds by the population served by the wastewater treatment installation under investigation. Drug consumption estimation based on WBE requires sewage sampling strategies that express the concentrations along the whole time period of time. To this end, the most common approach is the use of automatic composite samplers. However, this active sampling procedure is costly, especially for long-term studies and in limited-resources settings. An alternative, cost-effective, sampling strategy is the use of passive samplers, like the polar organic chemical integrative sampler (POCIS). POCIS sampling has already been applied to the estimation of exposure to pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and some drugs of abuse, and some studies evaluated the comparative performances of POCIS and automatic composite samplers. In this context, this manuscript aims to review the most important biomarkers of drugs of abuse consumption in wastewater, the fundamentals of POCIS sampling in WBE, the previous application of POCIS for WBE of drugs of abuse, and to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of POCIS sampling, in comparison with other strategies used in WBE. POCIS sampling is an effective strategy to obtain a representative overview of biomarker concentrations in sewage over time, with a small number of analyzed samples, increased detection limits, with lower costs than active sampling. Just a few studies applied POCIS sampling for WBE of drugs of abuse, but the available data support the use of POCIS as a valuable tool for the long-term monitoring of the consumption of certain drugs within a defined population, particularly in limited-resources settings.

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Section: Sampling Strategies For the Estimation Of Drug Consumption Bmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Illicit Drug Consumption by Wastewater Analysis Using Polar Organic Chemical Integrative Sampler as a Monitoring Tool

2021

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“…Notably for benzoylecgonine, the sampling rate for medium-quality sites ( R s 4.7 mL day –1 ) was significantly lower ( p value 0.0035) than that from the low-quality sites ( R s 6.2 mL day –1 ). Even though there was no difference between the three rankings, we need to acknowledge the limitations of using an autosampler when operating between large time intervals and sampling at small populations, which has been highlighted in other studies, ,,− and therefore, we used the calculated weighted average sampling rates.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Differences arising in the medium- and lower-quality sites can be due to the suboptimal sampling and population characteristics. Capturing the daily variation of a chemical when the autosampler is collecting a 24 h composite in time-proportional with a low sampling freqency is difficult and can cause an error ranging from insignificant to 100% or more, which could lead to under- or overestimation of the concentration in the wastewater. ,,− Low sampling frequency in combination with a small catchment population will increase the uncertainties around the concentration present in the 24 h composite sample. Chemical loads entering the WWTP in catchments with smaller populations can proportionally vary more compared to catchments with a large population, which is due to the relatively small number of people who consume or are exposed to a certain chemical and therefore the less frequent discharge into the sewage.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Specifically, taking into consideration that the reliability of determining an accurate sampling rate depends on the quality of the concentration of the wastewater ( C w ) that is obtained with an autosampler at a WWTP. In particular, obtaining representative samples in catchments with small populations and with a lower subsampling frequency can be challenging. − Smaller populations contain fewer users of a certain chemical, and the discharge of this chemical into the sewage will be less frequent, which can cause a chemical to enter the WWTP in discrete packets or “spikes.” These spikes are harder to accurately and representatively sample. The way an autosampler is programmed to sample can compound this problem.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Multisite Calibration of a Microporous Polyethylene Tube Passive Sampler for Quantifying Drugs in Wastewater

Verhagen

Tscharke

Clokey

et al. 2021

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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Passive sampling approaches to monitor licit and illicit drugs of concern in wastewater shows promise as a supplementary sampling technique to grab sampling when conventional composite autosampling may not be possible. Recent studies have assessed the applicability of passive sampling at a single wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). However, it remains unknown whether a single-site calibration can be applied to other WWTPs. This study evaluated the in situ calibration of microporous polyethylene tube passive samplers (MPTs) against simultaneously collected composite samples for 22 different WWTPs. Samples were analyzed for methylamphetamine, amphetamine, hydroxycotinine, cotinine, benzoylecgonine, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, and noroxycodone. Estimated rates of chemical uptake (sampling rates) were calculated using the mass accumulated in the samplers, the concentration measured in composite samples, and the duration of deployment. The estimated sampling rates were consistent between WWTPs (>90% within a factor of two) and ranged from 5 mL day–1 (amphetamine) to 9 mL day–1 (noroxycodone). The samplers were effective at estimating analyte concentrations, with 77% of results having a normalized difference to 24 h composite samples of below 30%. Our study suggests that MPT passive samplers provide a tool for the spatiotemporal monitoring of drug use where automated integrative sampling techniques may not be feasible.

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“…In addition, intra‐day variations in wastewater flows require samples to be collected in a flow‐ or volume‐weighted manner. More details and peculiarities for wastewater sampling in sewers, an overview of relevant literature, and a list of requirements for a series of typical applications is described elsewhere (De Keyser et al, ; Ort et al, ,; Ort, ; Coutu et al, ).…”

Section: Sample Collection Approaches and Sample Preparationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mass spectrometric strategies for the investigation of biomarkers of illicit drug use in wastewater

Hernández

Castiglioni

Covaci

et al. 2016

Mass Spectrometry Reviews

Self Cite

102

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The analysis of illicit drugs in urban wastewater is the basis of wastewater‐based epidemiology (WBE), and has received much scientific attention because the concentrations measured can be used as a new non‐intrusive tool to provide evidence‐based and real‐time estimates of community‐wide drug consumption. Moreover, WBE allows monitoring patterns and spatial and temporal trends of drug use. Although information and expertise from other disciplines is required to refine and effectively apply WBE, analytical chemistry is the fundamental driver in this field. The use of advanced analytical techniques, commonly based on combined chromatography—mass spectrometry, is mandatory because the very low analyte concentration and the complexity of samples (raw wastewater) make quantification and identification/confirmation of illicit drug biomarkers (IDBs) troublesome. We review the most‐recent literature available (mostly from the last 5 years) on the determination of IDBs in wastewater with particular emphasis on the different analytical strategies applied. The predominance of liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry to quantify target IDBs and the essence to produce reliable and comparable results is illustrated. Accordingly, the importance to perform inter‐laboratory exercises and the need to analyze appropriate quality controls in each sample sequence is highlighted. Other crucial steps in WBE, such as sample collection and sample pre‐treatment, are briefly and carefully discussed. The article further focuses on the potential of high‐resolution mass spectrometry. Different approaches for target and non‐target analysis are discussed, and the interest to perform experiments under laboratory‐controlled conditions, as a complementary tool to investigate related compounds (e.g., minor metabolites and/or transformation products in wastewater) is treated. The article ends up with the trends and future perspectives in this field from the authors’ point of view. © 2016 by The Authors. Mass Spectrometry Reviews published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Mass Spec Rev 37:258–280, 2018

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Quality assurance/quality control in wastewater sampling

Cited by 6 publications

References 30 publications

Evaluation of Illicit Drug Consumption by Wastewater Analysis Using Polar Organic Chemical Integrative Sampler as a Monitoring Tool

Evaluation of Illicit Drug Consumption by Wastewater Analysis Using Polar Organic Chemical Integrative Sampler as a Monitoring Tool

Multisite Calibration of a Microporous Polyethylene Tube Passive Sampler for Quantifying Drugs in Wastewater

Mass spectrometric strategies for the investigation of biomarkers of illicit drug use in wastewater

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