Pueblo, CO – An agreement between the Pueblo Department of Public Health and Environment, the City of Pueblo, and BioBot will make wastewater tracking data for harmful substances available to the public.
A current data dashboard, which highlights data linked to substance use in Pueblo County, will now add wastewater data showing the presence of dangerous substances like cocaine, fentanyl, and methamphetamine as well as the substance use treatment medicine known as naloxone.
Over the past year, a pilot project took place that allowed BioBot to collect wastewater and present their findings to PDPHE and community partners. Initial data during the pilot program identified spikes in the presence of cocaine, fentanyl, and methamphetamine, and identified the initial presence of xylazine.
Grant funding will allow PDPHE to access and publish the data sets from the pilot period as well as new data through September 2025. People interested in wastewater data can visit pueblohealth.org and navigate to the data page for a complete substance use data dashboard featuring the new data sets.
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