Tempe has been collecting samples from its sewers for seven years, looking for traces of opioids flowing through the city’s pipes. Anyone who flushes a toilet contributes to the data.
The testing has detected emerging drug threats, giving authorities more than a week of early warning to prevent spikes in overdoses.
This approach to public health has spread, but Tempe was the first to turn its wastewater into actionable intelligence about opioid abuse hotspots…