Tracking Nicotine Use Through Wastewater

Wastewater analysis can reveal real-time trends in nicotine consumption.

The Nicotine and Cannabis Policy Center (NCPC) at the University of California, Merced, has formed a unique collaboration with researchers from universities who use human sewage samples to track an entire community's health and behaviors.

The project's goal is to use compounds found in wastewater to identify patterns and levels of nicotine use in San Joaquin Valley towns. Collecting hard data on smoking and vaping will help NCPC's aim of assisting local public health agencies, community organizations, and tobacco-control researchers in developing informed responses to the problem().

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‘The Nicotine and Cannabis Policy Center (NCPC) is using wastewater to measure smoking and vaping trends. Smoking rates in rural areas are higher (28.9%) compared to the general adult population (11.5%).#tobaccouse #nicotinetracking’

Conventional techniques, including surveys and phone calls, frequently have poor response rates and have trouble reaching people who are difficult to reach.

Tobacco Use in Rural Areas and Challenges in Nicotine Control

Smoking is a major health risk in the rural parts of the Valley. In 2021, the percentage of adults in rural areas of the United States who smoke cigarettes was 28.9%, which is significantly higher than the 11.5% rate for the entire adult population. Rural groups also use smokeless tobacco at higher rates than metropolitan ones.

The persistent popularity of vaping, especially among younger users, makes it all the more challenging to educate people about nicotine’s health dangers and to influence effective policies against the availability and sales and nicotine products.

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NCPC, part of UC Merced’s Health Sciences Research Institute, was created in 2018. In 2024, it earned a $3.9 million grant from the University of California’s Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program, extending NCPC’s work for at least four years.

The UC tobacco research program also is the source of three $50,000 grants the NCPC can award for pilot research projects. The first went to the wastewater-detection project, led by UC Merced environmental engineer Professor Colleen Naughton.

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New Approach to Tracking Nicotine and Substance Use

Naughton is working with UC Merced environmental engineering Professor Marc Beutel and San Diego State University public health Professor Eunha Hoh.

The project will start by collecting wastewater from two cities in Merced and Stanislaus counties and from the UC Merced campus. Sewage samples will be analyzed for nicotine metabolites over several months, allowing researchers to observe trends and patterns of use.

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“You can see if it’s increasing or decreasing at certain times of the year. You also can see if your interventions are working, based on whether concentrations rise or fall,” said Naughton, who expects to have the pilot project running by this summer.

Public health Professor Arturo Durazo, NCPC’s director, said detecting nicotine levels in wastewater can establish a new model for tracking actual substance use.

“We continue to have significant gaps in reliable measurements of how many people smoke or use other tobacco products in the San Joaquin Valley. This could help fill those gaps,” Durazo said. “From there, perhaps the research could extend to other substances such as cannabis, alcohol or fentanyl.”

Naughton and her FEWS-US lab gained wide attention during the COVID-19 pandemic when they developed the first global dashboard for wastewater monitoring of SARS-CoV-2, the COVID virus. Wastewater-based epidemiology expanded around the globe during the pandemic.

Reference:

Nicotine and Cannabis Policy Center Enlists Wastewater Tests in Fight Against Smoking - (https://news.ucmerced.edu/news/2025/nicotine-and-cannabis-policy-center-enlists-wastewater-tests-fight-against-smoking)

Source-Eurekalert