Population Socioeconomics Predicted Using Wastewater

Municipal wastewater typically contains
many drugs and anthropogenic
chemicals or biomarkers. The occurrence of these chemicals in wastewater
is linked to the socioeconomic characteristics of the contributing
population. Based on these relationships, we propose, execute and
evaluate a novel model for predicting population socioeconomics. Specifically,
we used biomarkers in wastewater to predict 37 socioeconomic characteristics
of populations during the Australian Census. The resultant model was
further tested on nine other populations separate from the training
data set. Prediction performance in the test populations (defined
as accuracy ± SD) fit within 75% and 125% for many features such
as catchment median age, and specific measures of educational attainment
(e.g., high school completion) and employment (e.g., managerial employment).
Considering the relative ease, low cost and high frequency at which
wastewater samples can be collected and analyzed, wastewater analysis
could be used as a complementary technique for assessing population
socioeconomics.