Portland water officials said they need to discard 38 million gallons of water after a 19-year-old man urinated in the reservoir on Wednesday at 1 a.m. PT.
A security camera caught the man peeing through an iron fence into Mount Tabor Reservoir No. 5 in southeastern Portland, according to the Portland Water Bureau.
Two other men, aged 18 and 19, then tried to jump over the fence and one of them entered the reservoir.
Officials caught all three men who were cited for trespassing while the 19-year-old was also cited for public urination. The police is reviewing the footage to determine if they can press additional charges. All three will not be permitted to return to Mount Tabor Park.
Water samples from the reservoir were taken for testing, and results will be available on Thursday.
Administrator David Shaff of the Portland Water Bureau said that while the health risk is slight, they wanted to “minimize public health concerns” and assure their customers that their water is “not deliberately tainted.”
Due to the teen’s urine, 38 million gallons will be drained into the sewage system and dumped into the Columbia river. One million gallons equals about 20,000 baths.
In 2011, it cost the water bureau $32,700 rate-payer dollars to discard 8 million gallons of water from the same reservoir after a 22-year-old man admitted to urinating in it
Why was the reservoir open to the air if they didn't want it to get contaminated?
What about all the birds that fly over and poop? Or all the dead bugs? Or an animal gets in? Or something else? Do they think a damn chain link fence is impermeable to contaminants?
Why was the reservoir open to the air if they didn't want it to get contaminated?
What about all the birds that fly over and poop? Or all the dead bugs? Or an animal gets in? Or something else? Do they think a damn chain link fence is impermeable to contaminants?
Why was the reservoir open to the air if they didn't want it to get contaminated?
What about all the birds that fly over and poop? Or all the dead bugs? Or an animal gets in? Or something else? Do they think a damn chain link fence is impermeable to contaminants?
Mte. They really need to think things over better. I hope to hell the water doesn't just come out of the reservoir and into people's faucets without getting purified. They're making this worse than what it has to be.
Why was the reservoir open to the air if they didn't want it to get contaminated?
What about all the birds that fly over and poop? Or all the dead bugs? Or an animal gets in? Or something else? Do they think a damn chain link fence is impermeable to contaminants?
Clock this faulty system. When its open like that you'll get bacterial growth Something is not right here
It's probably a PR issue, people hear that someone peed in a reservoir and think the water is contaminated forever. They have to have some sort of filter for everything else, so it should easily be able to filter out urine. Definitely a waste of money though, people should have to deal.
