Wastewater analysis as a global toxicovigilance tool for the monitoring of new psychoactive substances

Dhayaalini Nadarajan; Maria Laimou-Geraniou; Andrew Chappell; Christine Baduel; Lubertus Bijlsma; Tim Boogaerts; Daniel A. Burgard; Sara Castiglioni; Nicola Ceolotto; Erin M. Driver; Fernando Fabriz Sodre; Despo Fatta Kassinos; Harold Flores Quintana; Cobus Gerber; Emma Gracia-Lor; Elisa Gracia-Marín; Rolf U. Halden; Ester Heath; Julia Huchthausen; Barbara Kasprzyk-Hordern; Emma L. Keller; Foon Yin Lai; Arndís Sue Ching Löve; João Matias; Vera Ocenaskova; Jeong Eun Oh; Temilola Oluseyi; Kaitlyn Phung; Marco Pineda-Castro; Magda Psichoudaki; Noelia Salgueiro-Gonzalez; Cezar Silvino-Gomes; Fábio Marley Sousa Nascimento; Bikram Subedi; Nikolaos Thomaidis; Natan Van Wichelen; Degao Wang; Viviane Yargeau; Sarah Cresswell; Jochen F. Mueller; Richard Bade

doi:10.1016/j.watres.2025.124847

Wastewater analysis as a global toxicovigilance tool for the monitoring of new psychoactive substances

Dhayaalini Nadarajan, Maria Laimou-Geraniou, Andrew Chappell, Christine Baduel, Lubertus Bijlsma, Tim Boogaerts, Daniel A. Burgard, Sara Castiglioni, Nicola Ceolotto, Erin M. Driver, Fernando Fabriz Sodre, Despo Fatta Kassinos, Harold Flores Quintana, Cobus Gerber, Emma Gracia-Lor, Elisa Gracia-Marín, Rolf U. Halden, Ester Heath, Julia Huchthausen, Barbara Kasprzyk-HordernEmma L. Keller, Foon Yin Lai, Arndís Sue Ching Löve, João Matias, Vera Ocenaskova, Jeong Eun Oh, Temilola Oluseyi, Kaitlyn Phung, Marco Pineda-Castro, Magda Psichoudaki, Noelia Salgueiro-Gonzalez, Cezar Silvino-Gomes, Fábio Marley Sousa Nascimento, Bikram Subedi, Nikolaos Thomaidis, Natan Van Wichelen, Degao Wang, Viviane Yargeau, Sarah Cresswell, Jochen F. Mueller, Richard Bade

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

New psychoactive substances are a group of synthetic or naturally occurring drugs that mimic the effects of controlled illicit drugs. With limited information around potency, effects and health risks, there is international concern around their use and thus surveillance efforts are needed for public health. This study presents a global assessment of new psychoactive substances in influent wastewater from 52 sites across 20 countries during the 2022/2023 New Year period. Using solid-phase extraction followed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, 21 new psychoactive substances were detected with mitragynine, 3-methylmethcathinone, and eutylone being the most prevalent. Notably, 3,4-methylenedioxy-PV8 was identified for the first time in sites in Australia and the United States. A retrospective analysis of population normalised mass loads for 3-methylmethcathinone at European sites revealed downward trends in 2022/2023 sampling period compared to the previous years, suggesting a possible impact of regional scheduling measures. Additionally, this work demonstrates the stability of new psychoactive substances in loaded cartridges for up to four months when stored at -20 °C. These findings highlight the value of wastewater-based epidemiology for global monitoring of emerging new psychoactive substances threats and policy evaluation.

Original language	English
Article number	124847
Journal	Water Research
Volume	289
Issue number	Part A
Early online date	21 Oct 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2025.124847
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 21 Oct 2025

Data Availability Statement

Data will be made available on request.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank all participating wastewater treatment plant technicians and collaborators for their invaluable contributions for sample collection, extraction, and shipment. The authors also thank SCIEX for providing access to the 7500 Triple Quad mass spectrometer. SLU wants to particularly acknowledge Uppsala Vatten (Oscar Götlind) and Stockholm Vatten och Avfall (Gabriel Persson) for their assistance with sample collection in Sweden. The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the funding agencies. S. Castiglioni and N. Salgueiro- Gonzalez would like to acknowledge Metropolitana Milanese for samples collection. The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the funding agencies.

Funding

The Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS) gratefully acknowledges the financial support of Queensland Health, Australia. D. Nadarajan is the recipient of The University of Queensland Research Training Program Scholarship. R. Bade is the recipient of the Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Award (project number DE220100381), and J. Mueller is the recipient of the Australian Research Council Australian Laureate Fellowship (project number FL200100028) funded by the Australian Government. T. Boogaerts was funded by the Research Foundation Flanders for his WBE-related research (1225924 N). E. Heath and M. Laimou-Geraniou would like to acknowledge financial support of Slovene Research Agency (P1–0143, N1–0047, L7–4422). M. Psichoudaki and D. Fatta-Kassinos wish to express their gratitude to the National Addictions Authority of Cyprus (NAAC) for their generous funding and support. L. Bijlsma acknowledges grant RYC2020–028936-I funded by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 and “ESF Investing in your future”. B. Kasprzyk-Hordern and N. Ceolotto would like to acknowledge Wessex Water and support by Research England under the Expanding Excellence in England (E3) funding stream’. E. Gracia-Lor acknowledges the support of the Government Delegation for the National Drugs Plan, with funds from the Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Mechanism of the European Union–NextGenerationEU (project number EXP2022/008817).

Keywords

3-methylmethcathinone
Designer drugs
Legislation
Stability
Wastewater-based epidemiology

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Environmental Engineering
Civil and Structural Engineering
Ecological Modelling
Water Science and Technology
Waste Management and Disposal
Pollution

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1016/j.watres.2025.124847Licence: CC BY

Cite this

Nadarajan, D., Laimou-Geraniou, M., Chappell, A., Baduel, C., Bijlsma, L., Boogaerts, T., Burgard, D. A., Castiglioni, S., Ceolotto, N., Driver, E. M., Sodre, F. F., Kassinos, D. F., Quintana, H. F., Gerber, C., Gracia-Lor, E., Gracia-Marín, E., Halden, R. U., Heath, E., Huchthausen, J., ... Bade, R. (2026). Wastewater analysis as a global toxicovigilance tool for the monitoring of new psychoactive substances. Water Research, 289(Part A), Article 124847. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2025.124847

Nadarajan, D, Laimou-Geraniou, M, Chappell, A, Baduel, C, Bijlsma, L, Boogaerts, T, Burgard, DA, Castiglioni, S, Ceolotto, N, Driver, EM, Sodre, FF, Kassinos, DF, Quintana, HF, Gerber, C, Gracia-Lor, E, Gracia-Marín, E, Halden, RU, Heath, E, Huchthausen, J, Kasprzyk-Hordern, B, Keller, EL, Lai, FY, Löve, ASC, Matias, J, Ocenaskova, V, Oh, JE, Oluseyi, T, Phung, K, Pineda-Castro, M, Psichoudaki, M, Salgueiro-Gonzalez, N, Silvino-Gomes, C, Nascimento, FMS, Subedi, B, Thomaidis, N, Van Wichelen, N, Wang, D, Yargeau, V, Cresswell, S, Mueller, JF & Bade, R 2026, 'Wastewater analysis as a global toxicovigilance tool for the monitoring of new psychoactive substances', Water Research, vol. 289, no. Part A, 124847. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2025.124847

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abstract = "New psychoactive substances are a group of synthetic or naturally occurring drugs that mimic the effects of controlled illicit drugs. With limited information around potency, effects and health risks, there is international concern around their use and thus surveillance efforts are needed for public health. This study presents a global assessment of new psychoactive substances in influent wastewater from 52 sites across 20 countries during the 2022/2023 New Year period. Using solid-phase extraction followed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, 21 new psychoactive substances were detected with mitragynine, 3-methylmethcathinone, and eutylone being the most prevalent. Notably, 3,4-methylenedioxy-PV8 was identified for the first time in sites in Australia and the United States. A retrospective analysis of population normalised mass loads for 3-methylmethcathinone at European sites revealed downward trends in 2022/2023 sampling period compared to the previous years, suggesting a possible impact of regional scheduling measures. Additionally, this work demonstrates the stability of new psychoactive substances in loaded cartridges for up to four months when stored at -20 °C. These findings highlight the value of wastewater-based epidemiology for global monitoring of emerging new psychoactive substances threats and policy evaluation.",

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AU - Bijlsma, Lubertus

AU - Boogaerts, Tim

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AU - Keller, Emma L.

AU - Lai, Foon Yin

AU - Löve, Arndís Sue Ching

AU - Matias, João

AU - Ocenaskova, Vera

AU - Oh, Jeong Eun

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AU - Phung, Kaitlyn

AU - Pineda-Castro, Marco

AU - Psichoudaki, Magda

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AU - Silvino-Gomes, Cezar

AU - Nascimento, Fábio Marley Sousa

AU - Subedi, Bikram

AU - Thomaidis, Nikolaos

AU - Van Wichelen, Natan

AU - Wang, Degao

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KW - Designer drugs

KW - Legislation

KW - Stability

KW - Wastewater-based epidemiology

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Wastewater analysis as a global toxicovigilance tool for the monitoring of new psychoactive substances

Abstract

Data Availability Statement

Acknowledgements

Funding

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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