Ep. 189 - Robots Sample Wastewater to Determine the Scope of the Opioid Crisis in North Carolina

The opioid crisis has been devastating the United States for over twenty years now. Unfortunately, one of the reasons the crisis has been so severe is because the data has been significantly flawed. Greg joins Linda Poon, Assistant Editor at City Lab, to discuss her article “The Race to Learn What’s Really Happening in the Opioid Crisis.” Poon speaks to the city of Cary, NC and how it is using an experimental robot called the Biobot to mine data. One of the ways Cary is tracking and gathering data is by placing the Biobot in manholes around the city to collect samples of wastewater. These sewage samples are being tested for the concentration of opioid metabolites, which is what gets flushed out of the system after the person consumes opioids.

Also commenting on the podcast is Mike Bajorek, the Deputy Town Manager for Cary, NC. Bajorek commented on the fact that Biobot is able to deliver data in real time and also pinpoint the demographics from the locations the samples are coming from to build a new set of data. This gives city officials the ability to pinpoint regions within Cary to see what opioids are being used, where they are being used and how much people are using. With this unique dataset, cities can target how and where to delegate resources that will help fight the epidemic.