Colorado town finds THC in its drinking water, issues warning

By The Cannabist on July 21, 2016News
Colorado town finds THC in its drinking water, issues warning

By Jesse Paul and John Ingold, The Denver Post

HUGO This town on Colorados Eastern Plains warnedits residents not to drink, bathe in or cook with its water on Thursday because officials said evidence was found of THC, the main psychoactive compound in marijuana.

Residents were even told not to let their pets drink the water.

There have been no reports of illnesses or any symptoms, officials said at a news conference Thursday evening.

Capt. Michael Yowell of the Lincoln County Sheriffs Office said Hugos well No. 1 showed signs of tampering. The well has been sealed and secured, but hesaid it will take time for water to flush through the lines.Agents from the FBI and Colorado Bureau of Investigation are participating in the probe, Yowell said.

Testingwas undertaken Thursday following concerns from residents about inconsistent THC testing, hesaid. Six of 10 field tests came back with positive signs of THC.

I wouldnt be doing my job for my community if we just wrote this off, Yowell said.

Screening stations are being set up for worried residents, and water is being trucked inand will be distributed at the Lincoln County Fairgrounds.The countys public health department said the public should avoid the towns water for at least the next 48 hours.

Hugo Mayor Tom Lee says he was shocked by news of the tainted water.

Well figure it out, Lee said.

Hugo is a Lincoln County town of about 750 people that sits roughly90 miles east of Colorado Springs and 15 miles southeast of Limon. There are no commercial marijuana operations in Lincoln County. The entire county has only 62 medical marijuana patients, according to the state Health Department.

The county sheriffs office said in a Facebook notice that the compound was detected Thursday afternoon by Hugo Public Works and that at this time health officials believe it is THC marijuana-related.

We are asking everyone on Hugo water to avoid drinking, cooking and bathing in Hugo water, the alert said. At this time, investigators are assessing the situation with state and federal authorities. Bathroom usage is still safe, but until more information is known to us, out of an abundance of caution, avoid drinking Town of Hugo water. Fresh water is on the way to our community.

Mark Salley, a spokesman for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, said a state toxicologist is assessing what kind of health effects the potential contamination could have. Salley said as with marijuana edibles or other products the impacts would likely vary based on the amount of water consumed and the concentration.

It would take more product than any of us could afford to contaminate a city water supply to the extent that people would suffer any effects, Dr. John Fox,Lincoln Countys health officer, said in a statement.

Some expressed skepticism about the Hugo tests.

Peter Perrone, who owns Wheat Ridge cannabis testing facility Gobi Analytical, said cannabinoids such as THC or CBD are in no way soluble in water.

There is zero possibility that theres anything like THC in the Hugo water, Perrone said.

You know how oil and water separate? Its the same with cannabinoids. Theyre lipophilic, which means theyre fat-loving. They would never be soluble in water. In order for people to solubilize these cannabinoids in their drinks, for marijuana products like the Dixie Elixirs sold in dispensaries, it takes a lot of work. It takes so many steps to get a fat-soluble thing like a cannabinoid into something like a drink.

Joseph Evans, a former EPA scientist who now serves as lab director at Denver-based marijuana testing lab Nordic Analytical, agreed.

The one thing that bothers me about this story from a scientific perspective is that THC is so insoluble in water, Evans said. I cant imagine, I cant even fathom the idea that THC would be in water at any type of solubility to create any kind of health hazard.

A spokeswoman for the Environmental Protection Agency said the agencys support had not been requested as of about 5 p.m.

The incident has not been reported to the National Response Center, the spokeswoman ...

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