Drain a drinking water reservoir because someone peed in it?

[MillCreek]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/04/17/water-reservoir-urination/7814581/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+usatoday-NewsTopStories+%28USATODAY+-+News+Top+Stories%29

I have to say that I disagree with the decision to drain the reservoir, especially when it costs tens of thousands of dollars.  Urine is generally sterile and Bear Grylls seems to drink it without dying.  Not to mention that the reservoirs are open to the sky such that airborne debris, dead birds and bird poop go in them.

It is too bad that the miscreant probably does not have sufficient assets to seize to compensate the water agency for the cost.

[Jamisjockey]

 

Wow.  Just wow. 

[AmbulanceDriver]

Sadly it's not the first time they've drained the reservoir because some idiot peed in it.   Portland finally quit fighting the feds and is building some covered reservoirs to replace the open air ones at Mt. Tabor.

[Ben]

That's pretty ridiculous. Somebody needs to drop an ROV in the reservoir and get some footage of all the crap sitting on the bottom and let the whiners see it.

Didn't I read somewhat recently that OR was fining someone for catching rainwater on their land and withholding it from "the public", yet this waste is okie dokie?

[AmbulanceDriver]

Ben, Ben, Ben.    There you go expecting politicians to use logic again.

[brimic]

The solution to polution is dilution. 

[KD5NRH]

The solution to polution is dilution.

Or just not being dumb enough to use open reservoirs for drinking water that has already been through final treatment.  I mean, really; bottled water has a tamper evident cap.  The bottle of OJ I had this morning came with a tamper evident screw cap and a foil seal under that.  Why the hell would you leave millions of gallons of fully processed drinking water out in the open?

[fifth_column]

Why the hell would you leave millions of gallons of fully processed drinking water out in the open?

Seasoning . . . . .

[French G.]

So if he got a pint into the reservoir it is now diluted to 1 part in 304 million? We're all gonna die. I remember the last time this happened, if I lived there I would go take a whiz everytime the reservoir filled up, bankrupt the municipality, any town that dumb doesn't deserve to live.

[280plus]

Portland ain't too far from me. Ain't that a pisser? 

[280plus]

Oh duh, I thought they meant Portland, CT. 

 

[Fly320s]

Not to mention that the reservoirs are open to the sky such that airborne debris, dead birds and bird poop go in them.

Any fish in that pond? Turtles? Nearby wildlife that drink from the reservoir or pee into it?

[Ben]

Oh duh, I thought they meant Portland, CT. 

 

I figured you were just setting us up for that joke where the one guy says, "This water is cold" and the other guy says, "And deep too!"   

[Harold Tuttle]

the decay of leaves is a much bigger NOM

[cambeul41]

I don't recall why I installed a water filter on the kitchen sink –  I still drink out of the bathroom taps rather than walk the length of the house – but this story of storing the water uncovered after final processing has made me happy that I did.

[RocketMan]

Why do they engage is such stupidity?  Because it's Portland.  If you have ever lived within shouting distance of that silly place, you would understand.

[charby]

Any fish in that pond? Turtles? Nearby wildlife that drink from the reservoir or pee into it?

I was thinking all the duck and goose poop, pretty hard to stop waterfowl from landing on any open body of water.

[230RN]

Jeeze, and they just cleaned it three weeks ago.

The 19-year-old also was cited for public urination.

If convicted, doesn't that make him a sex offender?  And if so, doesn't make him a prohibited person for firearms ownership?

The kidney-shaped reservoir, built in 1911, holds 50 million gallons.

The only comment I can make is LOL.

[Perd Hapley]

I was thinking all the duck and goose poop, pretty hard to stop waterfowl from landing on any open body of water.

Well, you can shoot them on the wing, so they fall into the water all bloody-like, instead of landing.

[Jocassee]

As a friend once told me over a dram.

"I don't drink water. Fish f*** in it."

[Firethorn]

Any fish in that pond? Turtles? Nearby wildlife that drink from the reservoir or pee into it?

As far as I know, yes...

As for the draining it part, another forum I hang out on was pretty universally against draining it for exactly the same reason.

[birdman]

Or just not being dumb enough to use open reservoirs for drinking water that has already been through final treatment.  I mean, really; bottled water has a tamper evident cap.  The bottle of OJ I had this morning came with a tamper evident screw cap and a foil seal under that.  Why the hell would you leave millions of gallons of fully processed drinking water out in the open?

This.
While draining is stupid, so is leaving filtered, disinfected, processed drinking water out in the open.

Also, does this huge media push smack anyone else as saying:
"Look, potential terrorists, these reservoirs don't undergo any further treatment [or even monitoring? I don't know] before being sent out in the mains"

Let's see here, something water soluble, with a low dosage, with effects when absorbed through mucous membranes.  Yeah, that's hard to find.

Idiots.

[KD5NRH]

Also, does this huge media push smack anyone else as saying:
"Look, potential terrorists, these reservoirs don't undergo any further treatment [or even monitoring? I don't know] before being sent out in the mains"

This, in spades.

[MillCreek]

If I recall correctly, this is the reason why the Feds are now mandating covered water reservoirs.  I know that Seattle is slowly converting all of their open reservoirs to underground or otherwise covered.

[Balog]

How odd, I would have thought the open reservoirs were merely holding areas for the water waiting to be processed and sent out to the mains.