The countless chemicals and pathogens that you flush away end up in your nearest sewage treatment plant Abstract Aerial Art/Getty Images
WHATS the largest source of mass moving in and out of a city every day? You think, if its a port city, it must be boats or, you know, maybe if its a landlocked city, its trains or trucks or cars or planes. No, its water. Its water. Theres so much more water moving in and out of a city any day than there is any kind of cargo. Its basically pure water coming in. And then the water that leaves has some traces of almost every human activity thats going on in the city.
Once Eric Alm is in full flow, it is hard to stophim. But it isnt hard to understand his enthusiasm. Alm, a biological engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is one of a growing band of researchers turning their attention to the fluid coursing through our sewers. This waste water, as it is known, contains the whispered biochemical confessions of millions of people, and by listening to them, scientists can paint surprisingly detailed pictures of our health, wealth and environment, head off epidemics, track pandemics and even spot new designer drugs before their effects show up in the population.
Water treatment plant Suriyapong Thongsawang/Getty Images
The field, called waste water-based epidemiology, not only has the potential to revolutionise public health but also transform our view of sewage from disgusting waste to something incredibly valuable. You can think of the city as one…
