Posted on 02/09/2015 3:50:22 PM PST by doug from upland
A mid-level San Francisco water manager is under fire for urinating into a reservoir that’s a source of drinking water for 2.5 million Bay Area customers.
City Hall sources tell us that Martin Sanchez, a $111,000-a-year maintenance planner for the Public Utilities Commission, will probably be suspended without pay for the maximum five days allowed as a result of the Jan. 6 incident at the Priest Reservoir in the Sierra foothills near Sonora.
Priest is one of four holding reservoirs for San Francisco and other Bay Area cities that receive Hetch Hetchy water.
Utilities commission spokesman Tyrone Jue said the 674 million-gallon reservoir had been “completely drained” for maintenance when Sanchez used it as a urinal. Although the urine posed no health danger, Jue said, his action was “not acceptable.”
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.sfgate.com ...
They just don’t care.
But Shaff says he doesn’t like the idea of teenage urine coming through city taps.
“It’s easy to replace those 38 million gallons of water,” Shaff said. “We’re not in the arid Southwest; we’re not in drought-stricken-parts of Texas or Oklahoma.”
It does seem to me that very FEW people drink tap water, the VAST majority are doing bottled water. So if someone is a little nervous about the quality of their city water...let them SWITCH to bottled water. Case solved.
On older ships even USN ships before the late 1970's "ALL" sewage was raw and went over the side through discharges even in port. IOW the waste of thousands.
It's an over reaction of appeasement for an act not so many years ago no one would have given second though too. If the people want to really worry about this? Then they had best stay out of public swimming pools.
It’s san fransico, they’ll never know the difference, as a matter of fact most of them will probably think the water taste and quality is improved.
LOL!!!
I love creativity.
Who the heck saw this happen, and who reported it - - ???
Why? For a metaphor?
OOps - upon reading further - -
‘______a number of employees__________’
There are about five stages of water treatment before it gets to people’s homes. Birds and fish do the same thing as this guy. Heck, I used to swim in the Mississippi and take a mouthful every now and then. I’m still breathing.... (gasp, gack, grabs throat).
Doug, I’m a physician. Can I get suspended for five days with pay for pissing in a patients surgical wound? Waddy outthink?
Good thing birds are forbidden from flying over the reservoir and pooping in it.
“Are they going to suspend the fish that poop and pee in it too?”
I would if they were on the payroll for $111k!
Seriously - the guy works for the water dept...and he does this? Fire him for having a really bad attitude.
Somehow, this doesn't seem to be a problem.
Volume of dilution considerations aside, Tanker, do you think there might be an " optics" problem here?
I do also but the above is an old dictum I learned from an environmental chemist.
Optics is exactly what this is about.
Either way resv water doesn’t flow from the pond direct to the tap it gets treated 1st...They didn’t like this guy,period
“...an old dictum..”
I didn’t catch the age of the guy...
I did some work near a reservoir. We had to make sure that no dirt from the forest got into the water. Dirt!
It is a reservoir ... it isn’t the FINAL product going to the public. Geez People!!! Get your head around the PROCESS of water purification. The reservoir is the “raw material”, then there is Settling, Clarification, Filtration and finally Chlorination. People with REALLY LOW IQ’s worry about something like this, people who take the time to understand the process go worry about something else!
I should clarify - not talking bulldozers or rivers of mud flowing into the reservoir - it was hitting the ground with a sledge hammer - and we had to be far enough away so none of the splatter would get into the water. Although 15 feet away the water is lapping the shores of the same dirt!
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