Database for narcotics and doping presence in the Swedish wastewater system

For a number of years, a multitude of chemical and toxicology analyses of the presence of narcotics and performance-enhancing drugs in wastewater have been performed by Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE), and related predecessor entities. The richness of this information is unparalleled in Sweden and probably in Europe.

When considered together as a dataset, the information can provide insight into important local, regional and national societal trends and developments.

The dataset would allow for a deeper investigation into the scope and scale of substance abuse, whilst enabling researchers to further study the causes to changes in patterns of substance use. Such studies would provide policymakers with scientific evidence to aid in their decision-making processes.

However, due to the original design of procedures for data collection and test reporting, and to institutional changes, the information mentioned is not centralised or standardised as of today. Further, it has not been curated as to provide a unified platform for study and research purposes.

With this project we aim at addressing this fact and to design, implement and deploy a set of methods that will allow for the information on the presence of narcotics and performance-enhancing drugs in wastewater in Sweden to be transferred into a modern database infrastructure, that reflects the clear relevance of the information.

The created database will allow for better access capabilities and facilitate future research efforts.

Furthermore, the results of the approximately 700 new analyses that RISE performs yearly, would automatically flow into the new platform, thus ensuring the pertinence and continuity of the dataset.

Finally, the first application of the new data infrastructure would be to provide an online tool to researchers that contains real-time metadata information about the contents of the database and, as such, allow them to better tailor the design of their studies to the availability of data and assist them in the process of applying for access.