Other uses for very-sensitive analysis of waste water include real time drug sampling. We can tell that it's the weekend by the amounts of MDMA and cocaine (metabolites?) in the water; where heroin doesn't show weekend spikes. This can be used at festivals to see if "legal highs" are actually used and in what kind of quantities.
The programme is better than this page makes it out to be.
People take medication and excrete some of it.
Sensible water use, especially in drought areas, means that water is reused - the water you drink has gone through someone else before you.
BBC Radio Four has a programme about this: "Urine Trouble: what's in our water?"
http://bbc.co.uk/news/health-29108330
Other uses for very-sensitive analysis of waste water include real time drug sampling. We can tell that it's the weekend by the amounts of MDMA and cocaine (metabolites?) in the water; where heroin doesn't show weekend spikes. This can be used at festivals to see if "legal highs" are actually used and in what kind of quantities.
The programme is better than this page makes it out to be.