Summit County health officials are using a new strategy to track drug trends and prevent overdoses: wastewater monitoring.
The county is working with a national wastewater analysis platform, Biobot Analytics, to test for dozens of substances, including fentanyl, meth, cocaine and nicotine.
Samples are collected weekly from the Akron Water Reclamation Facility, which serves 330,000 households across the county, said Cory Kendrick, director of community strategy and systems at Summit County Public Health.
“It is truly the best, robust, anonymous data we can get,” Kendrick said. “There’s no way to identify who or where these samples are coming from, but it does give us an idea of our largest population base.”
The analyses will allow officials to monitor potential spikes in certain substances, which could predict an upcoming uptick in overdoses, Kendrick said.
“If we start to see a rise … it can hopefully give us a few days lead time to know there may be more, let’s say, fentanyl in the supply, which we know results in more serious overdoses,” Kendrick said.
Health officials can then do preventative measures and outreach to try to get ahead of the spike, he said.
The wastewater analysis will also help officials better understand specific drugs that are being used throughout the community.
Before, specific drugs that caused overdoses weren’t always able to be tracked – except through toxicology reports after a death, he said.
“We don’t want that data. We’d much rather get it from another source, when we can prevent death,” Kendrick said.
Health officials already monitor drug usage and spikes in overdoses in the community using data, such as emergency room visits, he said.
But with opiate reversal drugs like naloxone becoming more widespread, emergency room visits for drug overdoses are decreasing.
“Which is a good thing, but we know there is still an issue in the community,” Kendrick added. “So, it’s becoming a less reliable way to gauge what sort of drugs are in the community.”
Wastewater monitoring is a more reliable tool than emergency room data, he said.
Health officials plan to get baseline results by the end of December. They will then start incorporating the wastewater data into daily overdose reports shared with first responders and other key partners, Kendrick said.
Biobot does similar monitoring for municipalities across the country. The company frequently adds new drugs to the testing panel as they emerge, Kendrick said.
County officials will be able to access statewide and national trends through Biobot to help further their research and targeted outreach.
Biobot approached Summit County Public Health with the idea, and the county’s Opioid Abatement Advisory Council approved funding for the project, Kendrick said.
The council was created to provide grants and opportunities to public health projects.
The bulk of Biobot’s services are being funded through a national grant. Funds from the county’s opioid settlement will pay for the remaining $15,000 per year, said Colleen Kelly, deputy director for County Executive Ilene Shapiro.
“Ideas like this help us navigate the future – where should we be looking ahead? What should we be prepared for?” Kelly said. “That’s how we are able to use our settlement dollars so successfully.”
Biobot will also analyze samples for COVID-19, RSV and influenza in the county, Kendrick added.
