Tuesday, June 21, 2011
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo
This spot at the Mt Tabor number 1 reservoir Monday June 20, 2011, is where a 21-year-old man was seen on surveillance video urinating into the reservoir in Portland, Ore. City officials have decided to drain the reservoir at the cost of about $36,000 because of the incident. (AP Photo/Benjamin Brink/The Oregonian)
Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore.
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.
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.
Water from the city’s five open-air reservoirs, all in parks, goes directly to customers. The reservoirs are due to be replaced by underground storage within a decade, a result of federal requirements.
The reservoirs are drained twice a year for cleaning, and workers have found animal carcasses, paint cans, construction material, fireworks debris and even the plastic bags people use to scoop up after their dogs, said David Shaff, administrator of the city water bureau.
Even so, Shaff said, the yuck factor was the primary reason for the decision to drain the 8 million gallons, at a cost of less than $8,000 to treat it as sewage.
Dr. Gary Oxman, the county health officer, said the risk was so close to nil that it falls in the “never say never” range.