PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Call it the big flush. Because a 21-year-old man was caught on a security camera urinating into a city reservoir, Oregon’s biggest city is sending 8 million gallons of treated drinking water down the drain. Portland officials defended the decision Monday, saying they didn’t want to send city residents water laced, however infinitesimally, with urine. Public health officials say, however, that urine is sterile in healthy people and that the urine in the reservoir was so diluted – perhaps a half pint in millions of gallons – that it posed little risk.
The young man, Josh Seater, told KATU-TV he’d been drinking, was with friends and thought that the reservoir was a sewage treatment plant. He said he felt guilty instantly, and then security guards arrived. “I knew I did wrong when I did it,” he told the station. In addition to the sewage charge, Shaff said, the flushed water is worth $28,000.
Some people in the city, in the suburbs and around the world called the flush an overreaction, especially since animals such as ducks contribute waste routinely and, sometimes, die in the water. “More than 1 billion people worldwide do not have reliable access to clean drinking water, and here we are tossing away nearly 8 million gallons of water just to appease the ignorant residents who believe their tap water will otherwise turn yellow,” read one comment posted on The Oregonian’s Website.
The public pool system will however, remain open for businesss! Last one in is a rotten egg…….
We had three good laughs at work about this today.
#1 They flushed the basin due to the tiny amount of urine. Not due the the fact they maintain an open reservoir for finished water storage.
#2 They are just now constructing a closed system? I guess they have never heard of this new thing call a water tower.
#3 They actually think that 28K is the actually value of the finished water after treatment gross (no pun) underestimate.
#7 Greg it depends I had many people mistake the wastewater plant as the drinking water plant. A reservoir and a lagoon look pretty similar. The process are similar as well screening, coagulation, floculation, filtration, disinfection, discharge.
#9 Chlorination even with chloromines has a limited life in the water. The more organics in the water the less time chlorine will reside. Its most likely they chlorinate before storage and after it leaves the basin as well using a booster station. Of course there are those facilities across the country that do not chlorinate at all. If the facility can show that they can obtain samples showing no fecal or e-coli contamination many states and federal regulators can opt the system out of mandatory disinfection.
who the hell has open reservoirs in this day? portland sounds backwards…
Don’t tell anybody – but all of the fish in the reservoir pee and poo in the water. eeeeewwwwww! That’s what water treatment is for.
Within limits, I’m thinking the pee, poo, and decomposing bodies is not any real concern. Wouldn’t it be the chemical contaminants that are new in the environment? something washed off the land and into the water? something leached out of the delivery system? We are after all surrounded by pee and poo all the time.
It is believed by some people that every molecule of water on our planet has passed through at least seven human kidneys.
Now that’s what I call recycling.
#25 It is believed by some people that there are alien beings who somehow kidnap you from your home, unseen by anyone in the neighborhood, stick objects into you while you are in their flying saucer, and then return you to your home.
things to know about this location..
1. it in the Downtown area, west side…
2. its a VERY large park..(one of the largest in the USA)
3. 8 million gallons would only last 2-3 days.
4. this reserve is only for Down town.
5. its an OPEN pond system, there is more then 1 pond..this should be ALL of them, not 1.
6. talking about an area that is considered a rain forest.
Insane. Every hour of every day, fish, ducks, salamanders, bugs and mammals pee and defecate into the reservoir. If this guy was the fullest possible, he had one pound of pee in him. Max.
Versus the 65,000,000 pounds of “fresh” water they dumped.
You know, for health reasons.
Yeah. That’s the ticket…
The good news is that the water is 285 gallons for a dollar.
I think there should be a new drink in Portland. It’s a tall, refreshing, ice cold, crisp glass of water with 1/65,000,000th part human urine in it. Good for adults and kids, too, since it’s non-alcoholic.
Mmm. Mm. The Capital P.
‘Moran’ is a name, probably of Irish origin.
‘Moron’ on the other hand, is alleged to be a variety of Salamander (Oxford English Dictionary).
“1774 (1823) III. 158 Goldsmith Nat. Hist. With respect to the Salamander,the whole tribe, from the Moron to the Gekko, are said to be venomous to the last degree.”
Why do you insult Salamanders? As well as our Queen’s English language?
Another moron in the “moran” style:
Congressman Jim Moran
http://moran.house.gov/
#21,
I guess they have never heard of this new thing call a water tower.
Water towers are more for pressure regulation than storage. It is the weight of the water in the tower and down pipe that creates the pressure and the hydraulic effect that evens it out. Using a pump to regulate pressure is very difficult to maintain any evenness across the system.
Most towers only hold enough water for a few hours to a day or two.
Old English poem:
See the happy moron he doesn’t give a damn
I wish I was a moron – Oh God! Perhaps I am.
dumbasses
Naturally, it was the right thing to do from a public perception point of view.
Avoiding a public outcry of seeing a video of their drinking water being pissed on is the issue.
I enjoy my clean and socialist controlled water running in my home but for drinking, I prefer buying purified water for 25cents a gallon.
In related news, we may desire “pure” water to chase a drink of horse semen. I am heartened that the women seem to like it.
Let’s call it extreme liberal social programing?
http://stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/capital-life/5176745/Women-flock-to-take-horse-semen-shots
A freakin Meth head
I can forgive him. The poor guy is brain damaged from walking into walls and falling down embankments. Someone should tell him that he’s wearing his glasses on the wrong side of his head.
An Image: The early morning of April 14, 1912. Uniformed servants hurriedly arrange deck chairs of the RMS Titanic, in preparation of the days festivities.
Never mind that the EPA declares the recent spikes in iodine-131 in drinking water still “safe”.
While Cesium-137 is being found at the FDA’s “maximum tolerable” levels in milk.
Apparently, this is all bad news only if you plan on exceeding your maximun life expectancy.
Fukushima’s legacy has not been fully resolved.
Fuckyoushima not fully resolved?
Heh, heh. Its still actively spilling radioactive material into the atmosphere, ie–the reactors are still boiling water producing steam and radioactive waste 24/7 and will for at least another 6 months. And another earthquake could more easily than before make all 4 reactors and who knows what in the waste ponds all go China Syndrome.
Yes, not fully resolved yet, but its a proven safe and green and cheap energy solution for all those who support our Corporate Overlords and their no tax policies and free market no regulation stance.
The future is so bright, I glow at night.