Maybe not, but there's a bigger question here. Should cities still be storing their water in open-air reservoirs?
Let's back up. At 1 a.m. on Sunday, June 15, Joshua Seater, a drunken 21-year-old man, walked up to Portland’s Mt. Tabor reservoir, unzipped his pants, and peed through a fence into the city’s water supply. The act was caught on tape, and so later that day the city water manager decided to drain the entire 7.8 million gallon reservoir at a cost of $36,100.
“We drained it for the 'yuck' factor,” says Jimmy Brown, the information manager for the city of Portland. “I don’t want to be responsible for 200,000 people drinking pee.”
Almost immediately, press from CBS News to the Huffington Post jumped on the story. David Shaff, the city’s water administrator, got hundreds of emails. Some people called him an “idiot”, others wrote, “What a waste of water. . . the entire country is laughing at you.”
Locally, citizens were angry that tax dollars were spent to address an issue that was largely political. The urine existed in the reservoir at a negligible concentration. Nationally, people were upset because droughts, which have led to megafires and ranching disasters throughout the south, have limited their ability to do simple things like water their gardens or wash their cars. Scientists predict those conditions will only get worse in parts of the country.
“Fifty years from now, southwestern cities may not have a water source,” says Olga Naidenko, a senior scientist at the Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Working Group.
The government spends $29 billion a year testing, filtering, treating, and transporting the water supply. Water conservation organizations like the EWG argue much of that money literally goes down the drain. Of the 225 billion gallons Americans consume every day, about 70 percent goes to outdoor uses (lawns), 20 percent is divided between household chores, and 10 percent is used for cooking and drinking. Much of that treated water also leaks out of old pipes that transport it to your faucet, or evaporates in places where it is exposed to air.
One water-saving solution is to stop storing finished water in open reservoirs that are prone to evaporation. The EPA is currently phasing such reservoirs out, but 29 are still used by a small handful of cities—Philadelphia, New York City, and Los Angeles among them. The EPA plans to phase them out by 2022, and we’ll no longer have to worry about the odd tinkler polluting our drinking water.
Comments
can we see this video?
Flag ThisDoes the manager really think that nothing else "yucky" is EVER in that water? It's an open source water supply for crying out loud! Are there never bird droppings or any other "things" in there? This makes no sense whatsoever. cf
Flag ThisIm sure its contaminated with other adverse substances from nature. If Oregon was not at the time experiencing record high water, I'm sure the decision might have been different. August and Sept are at times very dry with water restrictions for consumers, this is an unusual year, there is plenty of water. Wouldn't it have been more cost effective to treat the water with alittle antibacterial.
Flag ThisIm sure its contaminated with other adverse substances from nature. If Oregon was not at the time experiencing record high water, I'm sure the decision might have been different. August and Sept are at times very dry with water restrictions for consumers, this is an unusual year, there is plenty of water. Wouldn't it have been more cost effective to treat the water with alittle antibacterial.
Flag ThisWhat a waste of tax payer money. Anyone who has ever accidentallly drank water out of a public pool has probably drank higher concentrations of pee water.
Flag ThisDid they charge the young man and make him re-imburse the city for its expenses? Locations in an uproar should get over it and stop making a fuss. It is natural to have droughts and rainy seasons. People have to learn to live with the hand their dealt or just move someplace else like the nomads of old.
Flag ThisDid they charge the young man and make him re-imburse the city for its expenses? Locations in an uproar should get over it and stop making a fuss. It is natural to have droughts and rainy seasons. People have to learn to live with the hand their dealt or just move someplace else like the nomads of old.
Flag ThisDon't forget that urine is already over 90% water. This is the one of the stupidist waste of tax payer money I've ever heard of. I thik a study should be done to determine how many birds crap in that reservoir per day or how many other animals and insects frequent that reservoir on a daily basis. This guy should be fired.
Flag ThisDon't forget that urine is already over 90% water. This is the one of the stupidist waste of tax payer money I've ever heard of. I thik a study should be done to determine how many birds crap in that reservoir per day or how many other animals and insects frequent that reservoir on a daily basis. This guy should be fired.
Flag ThisPee is virtually sterile, so appears this water manager's decision making process. Let's not be naive, with a little look see, I'm also sure this is not the 1st time this individual has wasted the tax payer's precious dollars. Letting this manager sweep the streets for awhile may teach a little more respect for the taxpayers $$. Portland is a great city, a jewel of the Pacific coast; they'll do the right thing.
Flag ThisPee is virtually sterile, so appears this water manager's decision making process. Let's not be naive, with a little look see, I'm also sure this is not the 1st time this individual has wasted the tax payer's precious dollars. Letting this manager sweep the streets for awhile may teach a little more respect for the taxpayers $$. Portland is a great city, a jewel of the Pacific coast; they'll do the right thing.
Flag ThisNo chance a bird would ever drop a bomb in that pond, is there?
Flag Thiswhere do fish pee?
Flag Thiswhere do fish pee?
Flag ThisAs well as all the other samples of detritus in the water that others have posted above - how about all the dead livestock, fertilisers, pesticides and industrial wastes polluting the upstream water supplies ??? And then there's the fact that most last steps in water treatment - chlorination, fluoridation, etc. is done at these reservoirs.. The manager should be sacked for his gross stupidity.
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