A toxic cocktail rushes through the veins of cities: our wastewater. But this stinky liquid mix also contains useful information. Now, scientists are measuring the wastewater of Berlin and Paris on an unprecedented scale.

What exactly is in the wastewater? A group of researchers is on its way to Europe’s largest wastewater treatment plant to find out. Some 80 percent of Paris’ wastewater is treated at the Achères sewage treatment plant northwest of the French capital. A thousand kilometers to the northeast, just outside Berlin, a very similar scene is taking place. Here, too, a team of renowned researchers is looking for clues in the sewer. The results are astonishing.

Detecting trace substances in wastewater helps us learn a lot. What drugs do people consume? What chemicals are they exposed to? The spread of viruses can also be tracked using wastewater. In fact, one of the first wastewater monitors for SARS-CoV-2 was implemented by the city of Paris. This documentary meets one of the lead scientists on the project.

But it‘s not just scientists who are interested in wastewater: the federal police use the same analytical tools to track down drug and explosives laboratories. In this documentary, investigators provide a glimpse into this relatively new criminological method.

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