National Wastewater Drug Surveillance (NWDS): Metabolites
An interactive dashboard to explore the presence of drugs, their byproducts (metabolites), and related precursor chemicals based on the collection of samples from wastewater sites located across Canada.
- Last updated: 2025-11-17
Metabolites are byproducts formed when a drug is consumed and broken down by the body. In wastewater surveillance, an analysis of both the original substance (parent substance) and its metabolites gives a more complete and accurate picture of drug use.
The interactive figures on this page show the substances that were identified. Select a time period, province or territory, or pharmacological class from the dropdown menus on the left to update the results.
This figure shows the percentage of distinct substances identified. The substances are grouped by their pharmacological class and if they're a metabolite, a parent substance, or if they could be either a parent substance or a metabolite.
Hover over the figure to find the number of distinct substances identified in each category.
Figure 4: Text description
| Pharmacological class | Metabolite | Percentage (%) | Number of distinct substances identified |
|---|
Figure 4: Notes
- The pharmacological class presented is the pharmacological class of the metabolite, not necessarily that of the parent substance. In some cases, they may differ. For example, nicotine is a stimulant, and cotinine, a metabolite of nicotine, is classified under the other pharmacological class.
- Some substances are both active metabolites and parent substances. For example, amphetamine is a metabolite of methamphetamine. Therefore, amphetamine in wastewater could indicate methamphetamine and/or amphetamine use.
- The number of substances identified for each pharmacological class differs between this figure and Figure 3 on the Overview tab. This is because on the overview tab metabolites are grouped with their parent substance. Visit the Understanding the data tab for more information.
This figure shows the number of identifications of metabolites grouped by their parent substance. Each colour represents metabolites of each parent substance.
Hover over a box to find the number of identifications for each metabolite.
Figure 5: Text description
| Parent Substance | Metabolite | Number of Identifications |
|---|
Figure 5: Notes
- The pharmacological class presented is the pharmacological class of the metabolite, not necessarily that of the parent substance. In some cases, they may differ. For example, nicotine is a stimulant, and cotinine, a metabolite of nicotine, is classified under the other pharmacological class.
Footnotes
- This wastewater-based analytical method was developed to identify emerging drug trends and detect new psychoactive substances (NPS) present at low concentrations in complex wastewater matrices. As such, our reporting criteria are intentionally broad and results provided may include false positives and/or false negatives. Users of this data should interpret results with caution and consider them as indicative rather than definitive. Confirmatory testing using validated methods is recommended for any critical decision-making.
- Our wastewater program currently has limited coverage. The number of municipalities varies between provinces and territories, and the number of sites can vary from month to month. As the drugs identified do not represent all of Canada, trends should be interpreted with caution.
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