Austin's bioterrorism detection program on shaky ground due to federal cuts, APH says

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- A program intended to detect bioterrorism may come to a halt in Austin, the city's health department told Travis County Commissioners in a recent meeting.

BioWatch is an early warning system designed to detect the release of bioterrorism agents through sensors placed in certain major cities. It was created in 2003, after the anthrax scare at federal buildings, KXAN previously reported.

In 2017, we reported that Austin was one of the cities using the program.

"That program is conducting air monitoring for bioterrorism agents throughout the Austin metropolitan area and we do that 365 days per year and also at special events such as SXSW and ACL," Janet Pichette, the chief epidemiologist at Austin Public Health (APH), told commissioners.

Funding on shaky ground

Pichette told commissioners that in May, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) -- which APH said distributes federal funding to the city for BioWatch -- informed APH that funding would come to a halt just a few days later, at the start of June.

"Will anyone be doing that monitoring?" Commissioner Brigid Shea asked during that meeting. "After June 27th...no," Pichette responded.

KXAN reached out to APH at the start of July to see if the program had indeed shuttered.

"The City of Austin continued to operate the BioWatch network during TCEQ’s suspension of funding (June 1-June 30). We were notified that TCEQ will be resuming funding through a contract amendment that will end 8/31/2025, but will step away from BioWatch operations effective 9/1/2025," APH wrote.

What will happen after that so far that remains unclear.

"Austin Public Health has notified the Department of Homeland Security with the intent to respond to the federal notice of funding opportunity for the FY26 contract with the goal of continuing and maintaining BioWatch operations," APH said.

TCEQ did not provide a statement and directed us to the United States Department of Homeland Security. DHS has not yet responded to our request for comment.