Colorado Town Exhales After THC-Contamination Scare

A small town in Colorado warned residents not to drink or bathe with tap water last week because authorities suspected THC, the psychoactive compound in marijuana, might be contaminating the water supply.

Authorities said pets should not drink the water, either, according to The Denver Post.

But water-quality tests released over the weekend found that the water in Hugo, CO, is safe to drink, according to NPR. “On Saturday morning, the sheriff's office announced that scientists with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation have determined that the samples were, in fact, negative for THC,” the report said.

“It is believed that there never was THC in the water system,” the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office tweeted on Saturday. The water advisory was cancelled.

“Health officials said no one had complained of adverse symptoms from drinking the water, but they issued the advisory out of caution, saying short-term ingestion could impair coordination and increase anxiety and paranoia in the worst case,” CNN reported.

Concern initially arose when a Hugo company used field tests to screen employees for THC, officials told the Post.

Michael Yowell of Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office said the company, “which he did not identify, had been getting inconsistent results and decided to test a vial of tap water, expecting it to be negative. Instead, the test came back positive, and the company called authorities,” the report said.

The Post said there were enough “troubling signs” for officials to take action last week, citing Yowell. “I wouldn’t be doing my job for my community if we just wrote this off,” he said.

County officials tried ten additional tests, and six came back positive.

“The mystery deepened when workers found evidence that the well with the positive result had been broken into, Yowell said. The department called the sheriff's office, leading to a full-blown investigation,” CNN reported. “The break-in at the well still hasn't been solved.”

One expert said it is unclear that THC would have negative health impacts if it made its way into the water supply. Joseph Evans, a former U.S. EPA scientist, told The Denver Post, "I can't imagine, I can't even fathom the idea that THC would be in water at any type of solubility to create any kind of health hazard."

For similar stories visit Water Online’s Source Water Contamination Solutions Center.