David Schaff is the director of the Portland Water Bureau.
Posted on 06/17/2011 9:00:48 AM PDT by JoeProBono
PORTLAND, Ore.- The head of the Portland Water Bureau said he decided to drain 7.8 million gallons of drinking water from an Oregon reservoir after a man urinated in it.
David Shaff, administrator of the bureau, said he decided to have the water drained after security cameras recorded a 21-year-old man, Joshua Seater of Molalla, urinating Wednesday into the Mount Tabor reservoir, which supplies drinking water to much of Portland, Portland cable news network NWCN reported Thursday.
"I had a pleasant buzz and I should have known better," NWCN quoted Seater as saying. "It was a split second thing and as soon as I was done I was like, 'Oh man' and I saw the police officer show up I knew exactly what they're here for."
Dave Stone, an assistant professor of toxicology at Oregon State University, said urine is generally sterile and would not pose any risks to those who drank the contaminated water, The Oregonian reported.
"It's inappropriate behavior. But how many animals are doing that or birds?" he said. "I don't want to second-guess the city, but I can't think of anything chemically that would have me be concerned."
However, officials said they are also concerned about unidentified objects Seater and four other people were taped dropping into the open reservoir.
Officials said the cleaning process is likely to take several days, but service to residents should not be affected.
NWCN reported the water is treated prior to entering the city's reservoirs.
"The water is chlorinated, but its chlorinated before the reservoirs so the water in the reservoirs is the water that you drink," city Commissioner Randy Leonard said.
Seater could face misdemeanor charges and fines, police said.
"I wouldn't mind paying for it, but I don't have a job right now," he told NWCN. "I'm willing to do community service to clean up the place because I feel bad and feel pretty stupid."
David Schaff is the director of the Portland Water Bureau.
Funny he had enough money to buy beer/other alcohol, but at least he realized he was a dumbass.
This is OREGON....half the people ARE INSANE...and most of them live in Portland and Eugene...
I’m sure the urine in that large a pool is no worse than the bird poop that probably hits it everyday.
What about all that fish and frog wee wee? You just have to shake your head these days at the stupidity in government.
Urine is pretty much sterile....these idiots have no brains...not the guy who peed...the people who drained the resevoir...how many BIRDS, and other ANIMALS do they think POOP in this body of water...it ain’t covered! It’s why we have CHLORINE!
How about all of the birds taking a bath in it? Or the animals pissing or pooping in it. This is your government at work!
Actually for us, especially THIS year....we are NOT at a loss for water.....wish we could give others some...
Asinine if that is the case. No city should ever sit water in an open reservoir without a treatment plan before it gets pumped into the tap system.
Dead animals, avian defecation, blown detritus are all things that can easily make it's way into an open reservoir. And a pre-treat with chlorine is not going to fix it all.
lemme guess...this guys IQ almost makes it into the double digits...
Send some in tankers to GA. We need it.
Like the old sign at the local plunge: “We don’t swim in your toilet, so please don’t pee in our pool”
The solution to pollution is dilution.
They put enough chlorine in the water to cure cancer. a few ozs of urine are not going to contaminate 7 million gallons. What a colossal waste of water.
Really stupid. The fish and wildlife are probably depositing huge amounts of urine every day.
wish we could....Saturday’s forecast....rain showers...
There are probably geese and ducks doing their thing in the water anyway.
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