Nantucket Wastewater Shows Elevated Cocaine Levels

Clear Facts

• Nantucket’s Surfside Wastewater Treatment Facility detected cocaine levels nearly 50% higher than the U.S. average.
• Fentanyl and methamphetamine registered below the national averages, while nicotine remained mostly under average levels as well.
• The expanded monitoring initiative screens for various drugs using anonymized wastewater samples.

Recent wastewater testing on Nantucket uncovered cocaine concentrations just under 1,500 nanograms per liter, clearly above the national benchmark of 1,000 ng/L. The Surfside facility’s new monitoring program also tracked other substances, revealing much lower fentanyl results—well below national levels—and barely any methamphetamine.

How much cocaine is in Nantucket’s sewage?https://t.co/WQohMBaoGr

— Nantucket Current (@ACKCurrent) August 8, 2025

The island’s program began as a COVID-19 surveillance project but now tracks community drug use patterns without identifying individuals. Nicotine content fluctuated but remained mostly below the U.S. average.

Maryland attorney Randolph Rice explained,

“During COVID, a lot of these communities, and most communities, decided that it was important for them to start testing the water to see if there were any spikes in COVID in the region.”

He continued,

“But what Nantucket has now decided to do as of the beginning of the summer is to actually start testing for other types of substances, particularly drugs, nicotine and other items…within the system there. And what they’re finding is that there is a high level of cocaine.”

The initiative checks for cocaine, methamphetamine, fentanyl, other opioids, xylazine, and nicotine to understand the island’s substance use trends.

Stay informed as this testing continues to uncover new information about community health and safety issues.

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