THIRSTY WORK: Officials detect THC, marijuana’s active ingredient, in Colorado town’s public water supply.

On Thursday afternoon, authorities notified the town of about 800 people that the water should not be drunk, used to cook with or even to bathe. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment later downgraded the warning — it was safe to shower, brush teeth and do laundry with the tap water. Ingestion remained inadvisable.

There have not been reports of health issues linked to Hugo’s water, according to an AP report. Nor did every Colorado local seem terribly distraught by the idea of a cool glass of THC.

“I might have to go drink some water,” Patsie Smith, the former mayor of Hugo, quipped to the Denver Post.

I’m reminded of the story, perhaps even true, of a Salvation Army fundraiser who had been accused of allowing his local organization to accept “tainted” money. “The only thing tainted about it,” he was supposed to have said, “is that there taint enough of it.”