$1.35M awarded to advance wastewater monitoring for opioids and other high-risk drugs
Researchers highlight wastewater monitoring as a powerful tool to support public health responses
Water Institute member Dr. Mark Servos, a biology professor and Canada Research Chair in Water Quality Protection, has received $900,000 from the NSERC Alliance Advantage fund and an additional $450,000 in provincial funding the Ontario Ministry of Environment Conservation and Parks to advance wastewater-based surveillance (WBS) methods for monitoring high-risk substances in communities.
Dr. Servos will collaborate with co-applicants Dr. Scott Hopkins from the Department of Chemistry and Drs. Maricor Arlos and Wayne Parker from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Their combined expertise will focus on advancing the detection of opioids and other high-risk substances in wastewater, improving tools for public health monitoring and supporting more effective harm reduction efforts.
Dr. Servos played a key role in the early detection of COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses in wastewater, helping establish Ontario's Wastewater Surveillance Initiative (WSI) during the pandemic. The WSI became one of Canada’s most comprehensive and effective public health monitoring programs, providing near real-time data to inform public health actions. Now, he is extending that expertise to address another pressing public health challenge: the toxic drug crisis.
“Our preliminary work has shown that a very diverse group of high-risk substances, including opioids (e.g., codeine, fentanyl), stimulants (e.g., methamphetamine, MDMA, cocaine), depressants and hallucinogens (e.g., ketamine), are detectable in wastewater samples,” said Dr. Servos. “Many of these substances are also entering the environment, making environmental exposure a growing concern. With this project, we aim to advance our ability to detect these substances more reliably and support public health efforts in a meaningful way.”
The opioid crisis remains a significant challenge to vulnerable populations across Canada, with more than 8,000 opioid-related deaths reported in 2023 alone. The rapid increase in the abuse of drugs and the introduction of new and more potent substances and additives to the drug supply are creating challenges for public health.
“We will be working with municipalities and governments across Canada to take what we learned during the pandemic and apply it to this ongoing public health crisis,” said Dr. Servos. “Our goal is to help address the toxic drug crisis by providing a reliable way to track substance trends, that does not require sampling of individuals, so public health units have an additional tool to support outreach campaigns and harm reduction strategies.”
“Every sample of wastewater is full of information that can potentially help public health officials understand what is happening the community,” added Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Diana Marcela Cardenas Soraca.
The project will focus on refining analytical methods to detect a wide range of high-risk substances with greater accuracy. The team will also explore ways to reduce variability in wastewater data, ensuring results are comparable across regions and time frames.
Dr. Servos emphasized the broader implications of this work, noting that the research would also benefit environmental exposure assessments. “Improved methods will not only support public health responses but also help predict the fate and exposure of these substances in aquatic ecosystems. This will allow us to better understand their environmental impact and inform future risk management strategies.”
The team’s expertise and collaboration across disciplines make the University of Waterloo a leader in wastewater-based surveillance research. The combination of cutting-edge technologies and partnerships with public health authorities creates a unique opportunity to provide early warning systems for substance use trends, empowering communities with data to respond more proactively.
Congratulations to Dr. Servos and his team on this important funding achievement and their continued contributions to public health and environmental protection.
Photo: Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Diana Marcela Cardenas Soraca.