FACT CHECK: Are Texas workers dying from fentanyl-laced water bottles? Here are the facts

Reports that North Texas Oncor workers are drinking out of fentanyl-laced water bottles are starting to spread.

An Oncor representative and police have debunked the rumor.

Illegally made fentanyl is a major contributor to most recent cases of fatal and nonfatal overdoses in the United States.

Illegal fentanyl can come in powder or liquid form. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report 150 people die from overdoses related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl every day.

A rumor that utility company workers drank from fentanyl-laced water bottles has spread in some parts of Texas.

One report sent via email claims that two Oncor workers in Grand Prairie allegedly drank from fentanyl laced water bottles.

“[One] is dead and the other one is barely hanging on. Water bottles had fentanyl in them,” the email, allegedly from someone from Venus, Texas, said.

Are Oncor workers dying from fentanyl-laced water bottles?

The rumor that Oncor workers in Grand Prairie drank from water bottles with fentanyl is completely fake, Mark Beseda, Grand Prairie Police Department Public Information Officer, said Wednesday.

Texas is not the only state that has dealt with these false rumors.

Claims that outdoor workers were poisoned by water laced with fentanyl — spread through social media like Facebook — started in July in other states like Connecticut and cities like Chicago and San Diego.

So, while illegal fentanyl is dangerous, it has not contributed to utility worker deaths.