Residents have been warned not to drink, bathe in, or cook with the town’s tap water while the investigation is under way.
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Sheriff’s Capt. Michael Yowell says only field tests have been conducted on the water, but more extensive testing is underway.
Officials at Lincoln Community Hospital in Hugo, Colo., said no patients reported any adverse affects after the Hugo Public Works Department discovered THC in the town’s local water supply, according to an NPR report.
Colorado allows both medical and recreational marijuana use.
But the Lincoln County health department has issued a robust warning to residents not to drink the water. When tests results came back inconsistent, company officials chose to test a vial of tap water.
A water tanker has arrived in the Eastern Plains town of Hugo to provide bulk water after testing found THC in the water.
The THC was first detected by a drug testing company.
Investigators found signs that one of Hugo’s five wells had been tampered with, but they hadn’t determined whether someone deliberately tainted the water, Yowell said.
Current studies from the National Institutes of Health and Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics have both pointed out THC’s extremely low solubility with water.
It’s unlikely that consuming pot-tainted water would cause lasting health effects, said Mark Salley, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Health and Environment. “It’s virtually impossible to find THC in water in concentrated levels because cannabinoids are not water soluble”, Peter Perrone said.
The presence of THC was later confirmed in field tests; more detailed laboratory tests are now taking place.
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Several experts told The Denver Post that the town’s fears don’t stand up to basic chemistry.
