Friday, April 18, 2014

38 million gallons of water to be flushed from reservoir after man urinated in it

Portland, Oregon is flushing 38 million gallons (143 million litres) of drinking water down the drain because a 19-year-old man urinated in an open reservoir early on Wednesday morning, city water officials said.

Three teens were observed at the reservoir in a Portland park at about 1:00am on Wednesday, Portland Water Bureau spokesman David Shaff said, and one of them was filmed urinating through an iron fence into the water. The other two tried to climb the fence and one got into the secure area around the reservoir, but Shaff said it is not clear what he did then.


YouTube link. Much, much longer video.

The 50-million-gallon (189-million-litre) reservoir was taken off line and was tested for possible contamination. In the meantime, the city has decided to "discard" 38 million gallons of water and clean the reservoir. Shaff said: "That water goes directly into people's homes. There is no way to re-treat it."

The three teens were cited for trespassing and one for public urination. Additional charges could be filed as the investigation continues. "We are not in the arid Southwest," Shaff said, "We have hundreds of millions of gallons available, so that makes it an easy call for me to discard the water". He estimated the cost of cleaning and replacing the water at several thousand dollars.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hope they charge this guy for cost of the cleaning and replacing of the water.

Anonymous said...

Or just piss in his mouth. He wants people to drink it so bad...

tony m said...

Was this before or after they poisoned the water with fluoride?