'Something's off' with Hugo's water, residents and state say

This photo, taken July 17, 2015, shows Jessica Childers-Teague's 3-year-old son taking a bath in murky, brownish water. Residents in Hugo and surrounding areas are upset about the water quality in recent months, some claiming they are ready to move out of town because of it.

“He was not dirty when I put him in there,” said Jessica Childers-Teague, a resident of tiny Sawyer and the boy’s mother. “That’s just the way it looked when the bath filled up.”

A little boy, his shampooed head down and turned away from the camera, sits in a bathtub full of brown, soapy water.

Call anywhere in Hugo — or even in nearby communities — and they’ll all tell you about the water.

Some say it’s green. Others say it’s brown. A little foggy, others say. Nearly all of them say it smells bad, or at least that it seems “off.”

Something is off with Hugo’s water — and officials with the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality say it’s been like that for a long time.

Erin Hatfield, a spokeswoman for the state agency, offered the following statement about the town’s drinking water supply: