The incident was caught on grainy surveillance video. After unknown objects were tossed in the reservoir, a man walks up and urinates right into the drinking water. It will cost more than $7,500 to empty the reservoir, and that drinking water would have sold for more than $28,000.
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“It’s 8 million gallons and there are people who will say it’s an overreaction,” said David Shaff, administrator for the Portland Water Bureau. “I don’t think so. I think just dealing with the ‘yuck factor,’ I can imagine how many people would be saying ‘I made orange juice with that water this morning. That’s not what I want to hear.’” Shaff said they do find other things in reservoirs but don’t dump the water.
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“If I shut down the reservoir every time a tennis ball, a dead duck or a dead squirrel or a Frisbee was in the reservoir, I’d shut them down almost daily,” he said. But he said urine is different and he’d rather be cautious. The 21-year-old who urinated in the reservoir said that he’s sorry he did it and feels bad. No one has been arrested or cited in this case. The cleaning could take several days.
5 comments:
So one bladder-ful of human urine is a no-no, but the hundreds of birds sh-tting in the water every day is ok?
Yeah, urine is "different." It is less disgusting and dangerous than the other things he mentions. How about we all stop catering to those that freak out about non-issues and wasting a bunch of time and money.
Let the fish, birds, and any other animal urinate/defecate in the water...but if a human does, OMG...drain it. The man should lose his job ASAP
Barring a bladder or kidney infection, urine is sterile anyways, and hardly warrants freaking out and draining the reservoir.
By my math that is aprox. 0.0156 parts per million before treatment. I don't think the EPA considers the Yuck Factor in their regulations. Mr Shaff should pay that out of his own pocket.
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