TexWEB (the Texas Wastewater Environmental and Biomonitoring program) is a system that helps detect infectious disease outbreaks early by testing wastewater from all over Texas. TexWeb can find signs of viruses that are spreading in a community, potentially before they become a big problem for communities and health care systems. By detecting diseases early, TexWEB can help keep Texans healthy, and businesses and schools running smoothly.
TexWEB uses advanced technology to find thousands of viruses, such as SARS-CoV-2 (the virus causing COVID-19) and its variants, RSV, influenza A and B (like H5N1), mPox, polio, enterovirus D68, norovirus, West Nile virus, dengue, chikungunya, and Zika. TexWEB collects data every week from fifteen Texas cities and is growing to include more locations across the state.
TexWEB is guided by representatives from the Texas Epidemic Public Health Institute (TEPHI), Baylor College of Medicine, UTHealth Houston School of Public Health, and the El Paso Water Utility.
Read through the FAQs below to learn more. Still have questions, or interested in partnering with us? Email [email protected] to start the conversation
Our interactive dashboard provides the latest information on select disease-causing viruses found in local wastewater samples from cities that are part of TexWEB’s network.
TexWEB data and samples can be requested for research, public health, and other approved uses.
Requests are welcome from both individuals and organizations, including academic institutions, public health agencies, private organizations, and independent researchers. All requests are reviewed by the TEPHI Data Access Committee to ensure alignment with program priorities.
Wastewater is used water that comes from places people live and work after activities like flushing toilets, washing dishes, taking showers, and other everyday tasks. Wastewater typically flows through pipes to a wastewater treatment plant, where it is treated and cleaned.
Wastewater monitoring, also known as wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE), checks wastewater to find chemicals and markers for viruses and bacteria. By looking for these markers and measuring their amount over time, we can learn important things about their levels and possible impact on a community's health. WBE can give early warnings about disease outbreaks, like COVID-19, flu, or stomach infections, by detecting these markers in wastewater before people see their doctor or visit a hospital. With advanced knowledge, we can prepare physician offices, hospitals, and public health systems for an increase in human cases which will lead to better health outcomes should an outbreak occur.
TexWEB screens for a variety of common viruses, such as influenza and measles, and can also detect new variants and novel viruses. Our program only screens for infectious diseases.
We get samples of wastewater from 15 cities across Texas and 40 sample sites, including Austin, Baytown, Brownsville, El Paso, Houston, Humble, Laredo, Lubbock, Missouri City, and Wichita Falls. New sites are being added to expand coverage over more of the state.
We take samples of wastewater on a weekly or biweekly basis at each site.
After we test the wastewater samples, scientists look at the data and compare it to past samples. They then generate a report that shows the levels of that virus overtime. The number of virus markers in the samples is often a good measure of the number of people in a community who may be sick from a virus, like the flu. We share this information with the local public health departments in the communities where we are testing.
TexWEB data and samples are available upon request for research, public health, and other approved uses. Requests are reviewed before access is provided.
Request access here.
Most programs that monitor wastewater only test for specific viruses like those that cause the flu or COVID-19. But TexWEB uses a new approach that looks at the markers of viruses to identify any known virus. This can help detect outbreaks of infectious diseases in a community early and provide important information for a response.
When our scientists find a new virus in samples that we haven't seen before, they retest the samples along with other steps to make sure the results are correct. Once they're sure, they share the information with the state and local health departments. It's up to those departments to decide how to respond.
TexWEB is a collaborative effort that includes members from TEPHI, Baylor College of Medicine, UTHealth Houston School of Public Health, Texas Department of State Health Services, El Paso Water, and many of the utility and public health department partners where testing takes place. TexWEB has working groups that help strengthen our network, enhance our scientific approach, improve how we communicate and share data, and ensure we remain accountable to the communities where we conduct testing. You can see an overview of these groups here.
These publications are associated with the history and ongoing activity of TexWEB. They describe several foundational studies critical to the establishment of pathogen-based wastewater-based epidemiology, particularly as it relates to pioneering work in the field of wastewater metagenomics.
J Am Med Inform Assoc | 2026
SeqBoard: a genomics-based data dashboard for comprehensive wastewater virome monitoring
Describes SeqBoard, the first public-facing dashboard that turns wastewater viral sequencing data into accessible trend information for the general public, public health officials, and genomics experts. It reports on dozens of viruses of concern and is offered as a model for future sequencing-based pathogen surveillance dashboards.
Environ Sci Technol | 2026
Wastewater Surveillance to Inform Cancer Epidemiology and Evidence-Based Interventions
A multidisciplinary review arguing that wastewater surveillance could complement existing cancer surveillance by tracking cancer-related targets such as oncoviruses, bacterial carcinogens, and chemical carcinogens. It outlines candidate targets, potential use cases, research needs, and the ethical considerations of extending the technology to cancer epidemiology.
Appl Environ Microbiol | 2026
A landmarks study showing that cancer causing viruses can be detected and tracked in wastewater. The study used a hybrid-capture sequencing approach on three years of wastewater from 16 Texas cities and detected six known and three suspected oncogenic viruses across all sites. They observed rising abundance of high-risk viruses such as HPV and Epstein-Barr virus after 2024, showing that multiple cancer-causing viruses can be tracked simultaneously.
Clin Infect Dis | 2026
Tracking HIV Through Wastewater: Ethical Considerations in Public Health Surveillance
A landmark study examining the public-health ethics of using wastewater surveillance to identify areas with undiagnosed or untreated HIV. It applies principles such as preventing stigma and bias, protecting privacy and confidentiality, and limiting data use to guide responsible implementation of HIV wastewater monitoring.
Annu Rev Med | 2025
Sewers to Solutions: A Guide to Wastewater Pathogen Monitoring
A review of the current state of wastewater-based epidemiology, covering molecular detection methods, data analysis, real-world programs, and public health interventions. It traces the field from its 1940s origins through its COVID-19-driven resurgence and argues it is becoming a standard public health monitoring practice.
medRxiv | 2025
Wastewater Parvovirus B19 Signal Amid Rising Maternal Cases
Reports widespread detection of parvovirus B19 across 43 Texas wastewater sites using hybrid-capture virome sequencing. The wastewater signal correlated with clinical cases and rose roughly a month before case surges, with full-genome coverage enabling real-time mutation tracking — notable given the risk parvovirus B19 poses in pregnancy.
Front Public Health | 2025
Addresses the practical gap between generating wastewater surveillance data and using it to guide public health action. It highlights unmet needs in interpreting viral-load levels, communication, ethics, and decision-making for community-specific monitoring programs.
Am J Public Health | 2025
Sequencing-Based Detection of Measles in Wastewater: Texas, January 2025
A landmark study that documents the prospective detection of measles virus in two Houston wastewater plants in January 2025, with no detections in the preceding ~3 years of monitoring. A linked investigation identified two unvaccinated infected travelers living in the same sewershed, illustrating wastewater's value as an early-warning system that can focus epidemiological follow-up for vaccine preventable diseases.
Communications Medicine | 2025
Post-recovery viral shedding shapes wastewater-based epidemiological inferences
An investigation of the impact of prolonged viral shedding on wastewater-based epidemiology using a framework that integrates shedding patterns, wastewater viral loads, case data, and epidemic modeling. It shows that viral contributions from recovered individuals can outweigh those from actively infectious populations over time, influencing outbreak forecasts and potentially delaying the identification of emerging variants.
J Infect | 2024
Used receptor-binding-domain amplicon sequencing on 17 months of El Paso wastewater to track 91 SARS-CoV-2 variants and their succession. The approach detected variants earlier than clinical sequencing and found the highest variant diversity during low-transmission periods, when reduced competition appears to favor mutation.
N Engl J Med | 2024
Sequencing-Based Detection of Avian Influenza A(H5N1) Virus in Wastewater in Ten Cities
A pioneering study that reported a sequencing-based detection of H5N1 avian influenza virus in wastewater across ten cities during the 2024 outbreak affecting dairy cattle. It demonstrates that wastewater sequencing can flag the presence of this zoonotic virus at the community level well before zoonotic transmission and detection by other means.
Lancet Reg Health Americas | 2023
Using three PCR assays plus sequencing, the team detected mpox virus DNA in all four El Paso sewersheds during early 2023 despite only one reported clinical case. Viral signal rose one to two weeks before the case was reported, suggesting community infections were substantially undercounted.
Nat Commun | 2023
Wastewater sequencing reveals community and variant dynamics of the collective human virome
A landmark study showing metagenomic sequencing can be used to track hundreds of human viruses. Analyzed 363 longitudinal wastewater samples from ten sites in two cities with a viral probe-capture panel, detecting over 450 pathogenic viruses from 28 families — most never previously found in such samples. Signals for SARS-CoV-2, influenza, and mpox tracked clinical data, and abundant viruses yielded variant information consistent with regional spread and evolution.
Front Public Health | 2023
Wastewater pandemic preparedness: Toward an end-to-end pathogen monitoring program
The first study to propose a framework for an integrated, statewide wastewater program to track viral pathogens of pandemic potential using exclusively metagenomic sequencing. It outlines how engineering, molecular science, geospatial analytics, epidemiology, and public health messaging must be coordinated into an effective end-to-end monitoring system.
Int J Environ Health Res | 2023
Evaluated a roughly 19-month SARS-CoV-2 wastewater monitoring program across four El Paso treatment facilities serving a largely binational, minority population. Wastewater virus concentrations led reported case rates by 4 to 24 days, supporting the program's usefulness as the virus moved toward becoming endemic.
Water Res | 2021
Compared five methods for concentrating SARS-CoV-2 RNA from wastewater on recovery, cost, and throughput, using process and normalization controls. HA filtration with bead beating performed best for sensitivity and cost, offering a practical guide for laboratories establishing monitoring protocols.
medRxiv | 2020
Wastewater Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 as a Predictive Metric of Positivity Rate for a Major Metropolis
The first major systemized effort to track SARS-CoV2 on a large scale in wastewater. Reports weekly SARS-CoV-2 wastewater RNA levels across 39 sampling sites in a major metropolis (Houston) serving more than 3.6 million people, tracked over 22 weeks before, during, and after a surge. It examines how wastewater viral levels relate to the community test positivity rate, supporting wastewater as a predictive, population-level indicator of infection trends. Marked the early entry of the state of Texas (April 2020) into WBE.