After getting an unexpected crash course on the presence of methamphetamine in public spaces, Pikes Peak Library District officials have learned that residue of the illegal drug found last week in some of its public restrooms is not a library problem.

“It’s a public-facilities issue,” says library district spokeswoman Denise Abbott. “Any public facility could have it.”

Smoking the stimulant in bathrooms at libraries, gas stations, restaurants, grocery stores, workplaces, bus stations or other sites such as hotel rooms deposits airborne particles on counters, doors, drywall, painted walls, air ducts and other spots.

The substance turns into a sticky residue that spreads when it’s touched, remains on surfaces for “a long time” and is slow to dissipate, said Mike Van Dyke, an industrial hygienist and associate professor at the Colorado School of Public Health at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora.

But health risks from short-term periodic exposure from absorption through the skin or even putting hands to mouth after touching a surface that has residue are low, officials say.

“The good thing is that the way bathrooms are constructed is you have an exhaust ventilation system that goes directly outside,” Van

Dyke said. “You’re not distributing this methamphetamine aerosol throughout the facility, and the surfaces that are most highly contaminated are those surfaces that you’re not going to touch.”

Because meth is metabolized quickly in the body and expelled within a few days, health risks largely relate to long-term, chronic exposures, said Dr. Paul Mayer, co-medical director of El Paso County Public Health.

“The places the health risks are higher are generally private residences where meth has been manufactured or used over long periods of time,” he said.

The most commonly reported symptom — if encountering enough meth to cause a reaction — is respiratory irritation, Van Dyke said. People with lung conditions, such as asthma, also are at higher risk of having problems, he said.

Infants and young children are most susceptible, Mayer said, along with the elderly and people with compromised immune systems.

Boulder Main Library, the first library to close in December because of meth contamination, found traces of the drug in seating areas and bathrooms, including on a baby changing table, the library reported.

The latter can be concerning, Van Dyke said.

“Let’s say you laid your baby on that changing table without any clothes on. You could get a significant portion of their skin contaminated with meth. I think that’s the only realistic scenario that I see where you are at any risk of health effects,” he said. “Because in these spaces we go to the bathroom, we wash our hands before we leave, and we’re only in there for a few minutes.”

The large-scale remediation in Boulder involved replacing furniture and computers and sanitizing carpets, walls and HVAC systems, according to the library.

Several restrooms in two of three Pikes Peak Library District branches swabbed this month in the 15-branch Pikes system showed meth residue, officials announced Saturday.

As a result, the system’s oldest branch, Penrose Library, 20 N. Cascade Ave., is closed for at least this week, as is its mobile book service.

Results from initial testing by a state-certified, Denver-based environmental consultant necessitated further testing, including areas surrounding the bathrooms, Abbott said, to determine which surfaces are infected and the extent of remediation needed.

Under Colorado law for residential properties, a surface is considered contaminated enough to need cleanup when it tests at 0.5 micrograms per 100 square centimeters or higher. Many states, such as Utah, Hawaii and Kentucky, put that limit at 0.1 micrograms.

Colorado has no law for public spaces, so companies assisting libraries are using residential scales.

Samples taken from several bathrooms at Penrose Library in downtown Colorado Springs had elevated levels above the state’s maximum residential threshold, Abbott said.

Also, one restroom in the Special Collections area — housed in the Carnegie Library, which was built in 1905 as the city’s first library and now is connected to Penrose Library — and one restroom at the East Library showed meth contamination above the state’s minimum residential threshold but below the maximum level.

That restroom at the East Library, 5550 N. Union Blvd., is closed, although the library is open.

Samples were collected in 25 of the system’s 53 libraries, at its three highest-traffic branches, Abbott said. The 12 restrooms tested at district’s newest site, Library 21c, showed “absolutely nothing,” she said.

Penrose and East libraries mark the fifth and sixth Colorado libraries to detect meth residue in the past two months.

Residential cleanup regulations from Colorado public health were set in 2005, with statutes adopted in 2014.

Van Dyke was involved with the team at National Jewish Health, an affiliate of the Colorado School of Public Health, in researching levels of safety, which helped create state regulations governing closing, cleaning and remediating meth labs at residential properties.

With public libraries in Boulder, Littleton, Englewood, Arvada and Colorado Springs voluntarily testing and finding meth residue, Van Dyke said he’s “relatively certain” that he’ll get a call about whether new regulations specific to public spaces need to be enacted.

“If that call does come, we’ll be involved in some way,” he said.

Unlike Boulder Main Library, which had received complaints about people smoking in its bathrooms, the Pikes Peak Library District had no complaints, Abbott said.

“As the second-largest district in the state, we didn’t do it because there were incidents of abuse but over cautionary safety for our staff and patrons,” she said.

Over the past few days, the library system has been fielding emails from the public, Abbott said, ranging from how people can’t believe this is happening in society to those wanting to know the risks and what can be done.

In addition to needed remediation, the local library district plans to install environmental sensors that alert employees about levels to prevent future contamination, Abbott said.