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Portland draining reservoir after man urinates in it
Oregon's Portland Water Bureau is draining an 8 million-gallon reservoir after surveillance cameras caught a man urinating into it this week.
The move will cost the water bureau $35,000 - $28,000 in lost revenue and $7,500 in disposal costs, CNN affiliate KATU-TV reports.
Is that worth it when the urine involved is really a drop in the bucket?
Scientifically, no, said Dave Stone, an assistant professor of toxicology at Oregon State University, who spoke to The Oregonian newspaper about the, er, leak.
"How many animals are doing that or birds?" Stone asked. "I don't want to second-guess the city, but I can't think of anything chemically that would have me be concerned."
Dr. Gary Oxman, a Multnomah County health officer, also told The Oregonian: "The health risk associated with that is really, really tiny."
A healthy bladder holds up to 16 ounces of urine, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Water bureau administrator David Shaff told KATU it's not about the science.
"There are people who will say it’s an overreaction,” he said. “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.’ ”
And City Commissioner Randy Leonard told CNN affiliate KGW-TV that the water in the Mount Tabor reservoir is chlorinated before it enters the reservoir.
"The water that's in the reservoir that you see is literally the water that you drink," Leonard said.
Sgt. Pete Simpson of the Portland Police Bureau told KGW the whole mess didn't have to be.
"It's really an unfortunate incident that probably could have been avoided had he chosen a bush," Simpson said.
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So the city thinks that ickyness, which is a mental obstacle, is worth all of that money? They must be the only municipality in the Country that isn't facing tough economical times.
Simply idiotic to drain the water. Treat it, which they would anyhow. Fine the urinator with all costs.
Only in Oregon...let me clarify, only in PORTLAND, Oregon.........idiots, you can drink your pee....it's sterile, you idiots!!!!!
So, too, is your brain.
That's true of healthy urine, but there's no way of knowing if this person was healthy. At any rate, there's a (psychological) difference between drinking your own urine and drinking someone else's.
I'll send you a bottle of my pee. Enjoy it!
Wait, how do you make orange juice from water? I thought it was supposed to be made from oranges.
Its Portland.
Hello! Lauren? Come back from the stratosphere. Some orange juice is made from concentrate, which requires water. I think that's what he meant.
orange juice concentrate?
("The water that's in the reservoir that you see is literally the water that you drink," Leonard said.) So, the city does not filter, or do anything to the water before it enters the water system? I don't see any cover, so what keeps frogs, bugs, snakes, ducks, geese, etc out. What a waste of money.
Im sure that cant be. It would be a violation of the clean water act which is federal law.
Duh. spending at least $33,000 of the taxpayers' money and wasting 8 million gallons of water because of the 'yuck factor'??? This is beyond idiotic; this is irresponsible and even criminal. If I were in Portland, I'd be furious.
$33,000 isn't even a dollar a person. Governments waste way more money than that every day.
"If I were in Portland, I'd be furious."- maybe so but there would still be nothing you could do but post comments on CNN. We may all get upset over news stories but at the end of the day we are all just rats in cages posting comments.
This is criminally wasteful. 35,000 would go a long way to feed portlands hungry..........
You can't blame him- it was called reservoir #1
"I never drink water, fish fornicate in it." W. C. Fields
Speechless on this topic maybe something else is in the water. Hmmmmmm unsolved mystery hmmmmmmm
Urine is sterile. This is beyond stupid.
Sure...you can drink MY pee...but I don't want to drink YOURS! Just the thought of someone's HIV (I know, it's sterile) is enough for me to 'pass' on that water.
How incredibly stupid. If I was a tax payer I'd be livid.
You aren't a taxpayer? How'd you do that?
Monica . . it's easy . . he's rich . . they don't pay taxes
If I were a resident of this area I would rather they spend the money on better security for the water supply. What if it had been something more harmful than urine that the guy put in there?
I think they should bottle the water and sell it as French water and charger more money for it and maybe they could make a profit!