Wastewater drug monitoring
Introduction
Wastewater analysis provides estimates of drug usage in a population by measuring concentrations of drug metabolites (excreted into the sewer system after consumption) in wastewater samples. Wastewater data provides information about drug consumption at the population level but cannot show how often or how much people are using, or who is using drugs. Wastewater analysis cannot differentiate between prescribed and illicit use for drugs including cannabis, oxycodone and fentanyl (ACIC 2025). For more information, see Technical notes.
Monitoring and law enforcement activities form part of Australia’s broader harm minimisation approach to alcohol and other drugs under the National Drug Strategy 2017–2026 (Department of Health 2017). Wastewater drug monitoring is used to measure the presence of drugs and their metabolites in wastewater, providing information about trends in drug consumption at the population level (ACIC 2025).
This page contains information on population-level wastewater drug monitoring. For related content on Australia’s drug laws, see also Policy context.
Key findings
What data sources are available?
Information on wastewater drug monitoring in Australia comes from the National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program (NWDMP), which has been operating since 2016. The NWDMP measures the presence of alcohol and other drugs in wastewater in regional and capital city sites across Australia. The study focuses on 12 licit and illicit drugs, including nicotine from tobacco, ethanol from alcohol intake, pharmaceutical opioids, and illicit substances such as methylamphetamine, MDMA and cocaine.
For more information about the NWDMP, see Technical notes.
What does wastewater drug monitoring data tell us?
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Alcohol and nicotine continue to be the highest consumed drugs across Australia as measured in wastewater, followed by cannabis and methylamphetamine
Source: National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program
The most recent wastewater report covers the period from April to August 2024 for both capital cities and regional sites, with additional information up to October 2024 for capital cities (ACIC 2025). Sixty-one wastewater treatment sites participated nationally in the August 2024 collection, covering 57% of the Australian population or about 14.5 million people (ACIC 2025).
Alcohol and nicotine have remained the highest consumed substances recorded in wastewater analysis across Australia since monitoring began, followed by cannabis and methylamphetamine (ACIC 2025).
Nationally, between 2022–23 and 2023–24, the estimated consumption of:
- methylamphetamine increased by 21% (from 10,585 to 12,815 kilograms per annum)
- cocaine increased by 69% (from 4,037 to 6,835 kilograms per annum)
- MDMA increased by 49% (from 962 to 1,430 kilograms per annum)
- heroin increased by 14% (from 999 to 1,137 kilograms per annum) (ACIC 2025).
Wastewater monitoring can also be used to assess the relationship between supply and demand within illicit drug markets. For example, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission examined supply and demand in the Australian methylamphetamine market by overlaying NWDMP data with illicit drug seizures data. The key findings indicated that large seizures had an impact on consumption, particularly in capital cities. The impact was not immediate and usually lasted 2–4 months (ACIC 2019).
For related content on wastewater drug monitoring in this report, see also:
Where do I go for more information?
ACIC (Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission) (2019) Methylamphetamine supply reduction: measures of effectiveness, ACIC, Australian Government, accessed 14 October 2019.
ACIC (2025) Report 24 of the National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program, ACIC, Australian Government, accessed 29 September 2025.
Department of Health (2017) National Drug Strategy 2017–2026, Department of Health, Australian Government, accessed 15 July 2025.