BATON ROUGE — LSU's environmental science department is using wastewater to track drug trends across the community.

The water collected includes samples from homes, businesses and even stormwater runoff. It all flows to a wastewater plant where researchers analyze how much of various drugs are being used daily.

Professor Bikram Subedi has been studying wastewater analysis for 15 years at universities and now shares that knowledge with his students at LSU. Results from the method developed at LSU come back within 24 hours.

One of the more notable findings involves a class of opioids the team has detected in the water.

"We found very highly potent opiates called nitazines, which can be potent up to 50 times more than fentanyl," Subedi said.

The Drug Enforcement Administration says methamphetamine remains one of Louisiana's top drug threats and the wastewater technology gives a clearer picture of what drugs are circulating in the community.

The team has shared its findings with law enforcement and the Louisiana Department of Health, with the goal of helping officials respond to emerging drug trends.