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Paper short abstract

This presentation explores wastewater as knowledge production and discusses findings from a focus-group study on public perceptions and social acceptance of drug related wastewater surveillance. The analysis reveals hopeful expectations alongside concerns about accuracy, ethics and policy use.

Paper long abstract

Wastewater is a complex material, often described as an all-encompassing mirror of society. Everything we consume, shed, and secrete ultimately ends up flowing through the sewer system. Therefore, for public health officials, wastewater carries valuable information as it represents the entire population in the catchment area. In addition to detecting disease rates, wastewater surveillance (WWS) is utilized in global drug surveillance. Compared to other methods relying on self-reporting or individual testing, collecting a collective sample from wastewater offers a more direct and timely insight into population-level drug use. The technology is recognized as an evolving field which calls for further discussion about the social sustainability of this data practice.

In this presentation, I will discuss findings from a focus-group study that examines the thus far underexplored public perceptions and social acceptance of wastewater surveillance. I approach wastewater as a site of knowledge production that informs public health officials and decision-making on a societally sensitive topic: the rising rates of drug use. The presentation covers ideas, visions, and notions people associate with drug-related WWS, as well as the justifications and expectations they express for this kind of water-based knowledge production. Preliminary findings indicate that participants perceive WWS as a revealing source of knowledge and call for its use as a tool for drug-related harm reduction. However, significant questions remain regarding the accuracy of the data, the ethics of reporting, and whether the produced statistics are effectively used in policymaking.

Keywords: wastewater, wastewater surveillance, knowledge production, drugs, social sustainability, public perceptions