The results are based on a national sampling effort summarized in a report from the White House, which pulls together data from sites across the country. Officials stress that the system is meant to act like an early radar screen for local trouble spots, not a final verdict on how any entire county or state compares.
According to coverage in The Dallas Express, Texas sampling locations recorded the highest average concentrations of benzoylecgonine in April 2026. Dallas, El Paso and Webb counties were all listed among the five sampled counties with the highest cocaine-related readings that month. Benzoylecgonine, described by the White House as the primary cocaine metabolite measured in wastewater, is what lab teams look for when they are estimating cocaine use at the population level.
PR Newswire collected and analyzed the wastewater samples under a federal contract, the company announced earlier in 2026. Biobot and federal drug-policy officials say this kind of testing can offer faster, high-level signals than traditional overdose or hospitalization data, which can lag behind real-world changes.
What the federal report actually shows
Federal analysts are explicit that the sampled sites are not nationally representative. The point is to single out places that might warrant closer scrutiny, not to pronounce a definitive ranking of drug use by county or state…