Real-time estimation of small-area populations with human biomarkers in sewage

Abstract

A new approach is conceptualized for measuring small-area human populations by using biomarkers in sewage. The basis for the concept (SCIM: Sewage Chemical-Information Mining) is supported by a comprehensive examination and synthesis of data published across several disciplines, including medicine, microbiology, clinical chemistry, and environmental science. Accurate measures of human populations are fundamental to numerous disciplines, including economics, marketing, politics, sociology, public health and safety (e.g., disease management; assessment of natural hazards; disaster prevention and response), quality of life, and the environment. Knowing the size, distribution, and flow of a small-area (local) population facilitates understanding the numerous and complex linkages and interactions between humans and the environment. Examples include material-flow (substance-flow) analysis, determining the magnitude of per capita contribution of pollutant loadings to watersheds, or forecasting future impacts of local populations on the environment or a population's demands on resources. While no definitive approach exists for measuring small-area populations, census-taking is a long-established convention. No approach exists, however, for gauging small-area populations in real-time, as none is able to capture population dynamics, which involve transient changes (e.g., daily influx and efflux) and lasting changes (e.g., births, deaths, change in residence). Accurate measurement of small-area populations in real time has never been possible but is essential for facilitating the design of more sustainable communities. Real-time measurement would provide communities the capability of testing what-if scenarios in design and policy decisions. After evaluation of a range of biomarkers (including the nitrogenous waste product creatinine, which has been long used in clinical chemistry as a parameter to normalize the concentrations of other urinary excretion products to account for urine dilution), the biomarker with the most potential for the SCIM concept for real-time measurement of population was determined to be coprostanol - the major sterol produced by microbial reduction of cholesterol in the colon.

Integrated assessment of contaminants and monitoring of an urbanized temperate harbor (Montevideo, Uruguay): a 12-year comparison

“…It is the most abundant sterol in human faeces and, consequently, is frequently used as an urban sewage tracer (DAUGHTON, 2012). GONZÁLEZ-OREJA and SAIZ-SALINAS (1998) have suggested that coprostanol concentrations greater than 0.50 µg g -1 may be used to indicate sewage contamination.…”

Comparing illicit drug use in 19 European cities through sewage analysis

“…Different approaches were used to estimate the population served by each STP due to the specific characteristics of the individual sewer systems investigated (i.e. census data, number of house connections or drinking water subscribers, or using a measured biological parameter in sewage; BOD, COD, N, and P; Andreottola et al, 1994;Zessner and Lindtner, 2005;Daughton, 2012). The variability among the different population estimates obtained was found to be between 7 and 40% (%RSD) and is strictly dependent on the sewage composition (i.e.…”

Assessing the population equivalent and performance of wastewater treatment through the ratios of pharmaceuticals and personal care products present in a river basin: Application to the River Thames basin, UK

“…The de facto population connected to an STP may not coincide with the determined de jure population 11,13 . It is because the former is population equivalent and accounts for tourist and the difference between daytime and nighttime populations, while the later is based on the latest census.…”