GREENSBORO, N.C. — Don't flush meth down the toilet or you could create meth-gators was more or less the message passed down from a Tennessee police department Saturday.
However, water experts WFMY News 2 spoke with say something like that is not possible.
"So there is some concern about the misinformation about how wastewater works," Elijah Willams, Water Reclamation Manager for the City of Greensboro said.
In a post that's now gone viral, the Loretto Police Department advised that flushing meth would taint nearby streams and retention ponds. If it eventually reached nearby rivers, alligators could become, "hyped up on meth."
But William said that's not quite right. William explained that animals don't have direct access to sewer water, and by the time water is released it's already been treated multiple times. On top of that, according to Williams, retention ponds come from stormwater which is runoff from rain, not water that's flushed down the drain.
The police chief of Loretto admitted to WFMY News 2 the post was just a joke.
"It was a joke used bring it to people’s attention that they don’t need to be disposing of their prescription drugs or illegal drugs down the sewer system," Chief Bobby Joe Killen said.
Williams said he doesn't recommend people flush drugs, but hadn't seen, "any devastating effects from it."
He suggested turning them into police. Chief Killen said that was the main reason of the Facebook post.
"This joke here was used to bring attention to the fact that people can contact us or bring us prescription drugs by our city hall," Chief Killen said. "We have a container there where we collect them and we dispose of them in a proper manner."
He also said there were no official reports of meth-gators.
So we can verify, flushing meth down the toilet won't create meth gators, but you should still refrain from doing so.