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The antiepileptic drug carbamazepine is a useful anthropogenic marker in groundwater to detect and quantify sewer exfiltration. In 2003 its application on a city wide scale enabled the identification of a trunk sewer in extremely bad structural status with an exfiltration (of wastewater into groundwater) rate in the adjacent area of around 5% compared to an average of approximately 1% in other parts of the city. After a reconstruction of the trunk sewer investigations were carried out again in 2008. Due to the reconstruction a decrease in exfiltration to roughly 3% could be achieved, which equals a reduction of exfiltration by about 45%. Thus carbamazepine emerged as suitable anthropogenic marker to assess sewer exfiltration and to evaluate the success of reconstruction measurements on a regional scale.

The anthropogenic nitrogen turnover of Western societies is highly unbalanced. As a consequence, a permanent supply of nitrogen via mineral fertiliser (produced with high energy inputs) and/or imported fodder are required and result in significant impacts of nitrogen emissions on the environment (air, water, soil). Key factors to an improved nitrogen balance on a national scale are the nutrition habits of the population. According to primary calculations a shift from the actual animal-based nutrition to a "healthier nutrition" (mainly characterised by 2/3 vegetable protein supply) would lead to a reduction of needed nitrogen supply as well as of nitrogen emissions to the environment by about one quarter to one third on a national scale.More detailed investigations are required in this respect in order to arrive at more specific conclusions and have commenced by an interdisciplinary team led by the authors.