Eight million gallons of water drained from reservoir after man urinates in it

[Serpo]

Eight million gallons of water drained from reservoir after man urinates in it
Eight million gallons of water had to be drained from a reservoir in Oregon after a man urinated in it.
Oregon, Cascade Range, West Cascades Scenic Byway, Cougar Dam, reservoir, lake
The cost of draining the reservoir after Joshua Seater was caught on a security camera relieving himself in the pristine lake is costing taxpayers $36,000 (£22,000) Photo: ALAMY
Nick Allen

By Nick Allen, Los Angeles

3:26PM BST 19 Jun 2011

The operation is costing the state's taxpayers $36,000 (£22,000) and was ordered after Joshua Seater, 21, was caught on a security camera relieving himself in the pristine lake.

Health experts said the incident would not have caused any harm to people in the city of Portland, who are supplied with drinking water from the reservoir.

They said the average human bladder holds only six to eight ounces, and the urine would have been vastly diluted.

But David Shaff, an administrator at the Portland Water Bureau, defended the decision to empty the lake.

"There are people who will say it's an over reaction. I don't think so. I think what you have to deal with here is the 'yuck' factor," he said.

"I can imagine how many people would be saying 'I made orange juice with that water this morning.' "Do you want to drink pee? Most people are going to be pretty damn squeamish about that."

Mr Seater had been out drinking with friends when he decided to relieve himself in the open air reservoir at 1.30am.

He has not been arrested or charged with a crime, but may ultimately face a fine.

He apologised publicly for his behaviour, adding: "It was a stupid thing to do. I didn't know it was a water supply, I thought it was a sewage plant.

"I wouldn't mind paying for it but I don't have a job right now. I'm willing to do community service to clean up the place because I feel bad and feel pretty stupid." Sergeant Pete Simpson, of Portland Police, said: "It's really an unfortunate incident that probably could have been avoided if he had just chosen a bush."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8582593/Eight-million-gallons-of-water-drained-from-reservoir-after-man-urinates-in-it.html

[palani]

Is this the same water fish fornicate in?

[mamboni]

What? I guess people believe that beavers, bears and coyotes have the courtesy not to "pee" into or near the reservoir, let alone number 2? Are people so stupid as to be concerned about someone urinatiing into a reservoir containing milllions of gallons?

[joboo]

They drained it in an attempt to find the pee.

The controller was overheard continuously repeating in a frustrated tone "It's gotta be in there somewhere".

[mick silver]

there kidding right .......... and this man still has a job . the end is near

[ShortJohnSilver]

Do any birds happen to be flying over this reservoir? Judging from the results when I park my car near some trees, something worse than a few ounces of pee is going in...

[palani]

You would be referring to "blue ice" that falls from airliners?

[Glass]

I want to know how you convert water in to orange juice? @ $2.50 a litre that could be quite a saving.

[iOWNme]

Our politicians have obviously had their brains drained from their heads.

The draining process usually takes place in a place called Public Schools. The draining continues even further, to the point of an absolute hollow shell, with a thing called 'Higher Education'.

[gunDriller]

What? I guess people believe that beavers, bears and coyotes have the courtesy not to "pee" into or near the reservoir, let alone number 2? Are people so stupid as to be concerned about someone urinatiing into a reservoir containing milllions of gallons?

and don't even think about swimming in the ocean.

it's a SOUP of fish-poo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WERRddBESI&feature=fvst

Ringo Starr singing Yellow Submarine in 2005.

i guess the submarine would be yellow - to be color-compatible with the urine ?


personally, i think the communities that will do best during the collapse is communities that can speak maturely about how to deal with pee, and poop, and dead bodies.

i thought Portland was relatively mature in that regard, more likely to allow a composting toilet, for example.

i've drunk pool water & i've pee'd in the pool. not on the same day, but still. i would have been glad to come to a Portland city meeting to make the point that it is survive-able.

[big country]

I want to know how you convert water in to orange juice? @ $2.50 a litre that could be quite a saving.

Possibly like this?

http://images.teamsugar.com/files/users/1/17470/32_2007/2073786.jpg

Just add water...Instant OJ. Hell, this frozen concentrate is the only kind of juice MOST people have ever had...

[midnight rambler]

Meanwhile thousands of kids are swimming in muni pools this summer where their peers have p'ed in the pool...

[keehah]

David Shaff, an administrator at the Portland Water Bureau, defended the decision to empty the lake.

"There are people who will say it's an over reaction. I don't think so. I think what you have to deal with here is the 'yuck' factor," he said.
Repugnance without wisdom. The Portland Water Bureau is enabling the worst kind of hate. ;D
They should know the difference between drinking urine (diluted or not) and coprophagia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisdom_of_repugnance

The wisdom of repugnance, or the yuck factor, is the belief that an intuitive (or "deep-seated") negative response to some thing, idea or practice should be interpreted as evidence for the intrinsically harmful or evil character of that thing. Furthermore, it refers to the notion that wisdom may manifest itself in feelings of disgust towards anything which lacks goodness or wisdom, though the feelings or the reasoning of such 'wisdom' may not be immediately explicable through reason...

The term remains largely confined to discussions of bioethics, and is somewhat related to the term "yuck factor". However, unlike the latter, it is used almost exclusively by those who accept its underlying premise; i.e., that repugnance does, in fact, indicate wisdom. It is thus often viewed as loaded language, and is primarily used by certain bioconservatives to justify their position.

The term has since migrated to other controversies, such as same-sex marriage, abortion, pornography, and alternative sexualities. In all cases, it expresses the view that one's "gut reaction" might justify objecting to some practice even in the absence of a persuasive rational case against that practice.

[willie pete]

when this story came out a few days ago I heard some pinhead from the water dept. say there are always dead bloated animals in the water, a few ounces of urine wouldn't matter ...

[Santa]

David Shaff, an administrator at the Portland Water Bureau, defended the decision to empty the lake."There are people who will say it's an over reaction. I don't think so. I think what you have to deal with here is the 'yuck' factor," he said.



Unless this story is bullshit, David Shaff aught to be locked up for being a total retard.

[slvrbugjim]

Holy River of Shit (http://benjaminleslie.wordpress.com/2011/01/09/river-of-shit/)

http://benjaminleslie.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/laughing-by-the-river.jpg

It remains freezing cold in Varanasi and the city feels subdued today with most people wisely hibernating inside. But life must go on – including daily ablutions in the river.

Two sets of chills run down my spine when I watch men plunge into the Ganges for their bathing and tooth brushing. The first chill when I think about how cold it must be. And a second chill when I think about the fecal count of the water on their toothbrushes.

500 fecal coliform bacteria (aka poop, shit, deuce, the brown) per liter of water is said to be safe for swimming. Personally, I prefer there to be no shit in my swimming water but accidents do happen.

100,000 fecal coliform bacteria per liter is the threshold for international recognition (by me) as an official River of Shit.

The Ganges in Varanasi checks in with a whopping 1,500,000 fecal coliform bacteria per liter. We may need to get a fecal coliform expert down here for verification, but I think that means there is more shit in this water than there is water.

Before I get carried away, I should remember that second chill running down my spine. It’s easy enough to make shit jokes but the filth of the Ganges is beyond sad to me, especially in the context of Hindu belief.

The Ganges is the Divine Mother to Hindus and they worship the river like a god. Though some of the chilly bathers I saw today might also lack access to alternative sources of clean water, most of them bath in the Ganges out of religious devotion. They can’t not immerse themselves in her holy, healing waters.

I make jokes about it but underlying my jokes I recognize a layer of cultural judgment and beneath that lies the fact that I have little patience for harmful acts of any kind done out of religious obeisance – whether it be to Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, or a well dressed goat deity.

But there is another part of me that identifies with the worship of nature and of the river. I have always felt a deep connection to moving waters, perhaps beginning with the clear rippling creek that flowed down to a muddy Midwestern river in the woods where I spent wonder-filled days wading, swimming and exploring when I was growing up.

I appreciate the impulse to worship something that is sustaining and connected to everything around it yet with depths and sources so full of mystery.

Here in Varanasi my Western notions of hygiene prevail so you won’t find me repeating my Ganga dip in this stretch of river. In fact, looking back at those photos, I think I am going to go take a shower in boiling Purell. I understand that work is being done to clean the river here, so I might look into that in the coming days.


http://benjaminleslie.wordpress.com/2011/01/09/river-of-shit/

[MAGNES]

Thanks for the visuals Jim. :o LOL

India , Africa and China have a lot in common.

Liberia was covered on CNN even, they crap on pristine beaches, animals don't
even do that, Joan Rivers was in China and openly spoke out about what she saw,
the host didn't believe her and only she could of gotten away with what she said.

[slvrbugjim]

Thanks for the visuals Jim. :o LOL

India , Africa and China have a lot in common.

Liberia was covered on CNN even, they crap on pristine beaches, animals don't
even do that, Joan Rivers was in China and openly spoke out about what she saw,
the host didn't believe her and only she could of gotten away with what she said.

Yes thanks, just trying to illustrate a point, that point being quite extreme.

Damn, I tried to delete my last post as the site did away with the photos, oh well, very good tech there from China.

[vacuum]

They say it only costs $8k to refill the reservoir, so its not a HUGE deal...

[Neuro]

personally, i think the communities that will do best during the collapse is communities that can speak maturely about how to deal with pee, and poop, and dead bodies.No shit!....

[SLV^GLD]

What, exactly, is bad about urine, anyhow?
IINM it is primarily water and uric acid with some secreted vitamins and minerals. It's effectively gatorade. I understand it to be sterile on emission and it is simply the nutritional value which makes it a haven for bacteria to grow in once it has been expelled.
Obviously I don't want to directly drink urine but I would be willing to drink from an 8 million gallon container that I watched you dump 50 gallons of fresh urine into.

[osoab]

What, exactly, is bad about urine, anyhow?
IINM it is primarily water and uric acid with some secreted vitamins and minerals. It's effectively gatorade. I understand it to be sterile on emission and it is simply the nutritional value which makes it a haven for bacteria to grow in once it has been expelled.
Obviously I don't want to directly drink urine but I would be willing to drink from an 8 million gallon container that I watched you dump 50 gallons of fresh urine into.


Keep your pee out of my orange juice. You might change the color. ;D

[gunDriller]

What, exactly, is bad about urine, anyhow?
IINM it is primarily water and uric acid with some secreted vitamins and minerals. It's effectively gatorade. I understand it to be sterile on emission and it is simply the nutritional value which makes it a haven for bacteria to grow in once it has been expelled.
Obviously I don't want to directly drink urine but I would be willing to drink from an 8 million gallon container that I watched you dump 50 gallons of fresh urine into.

do you know how many gallons of lemon-line Gatorade i've drunk ?!

i think of it as urea. it has so much nitrogen in it, it's too hot, as a fertilizer, for the earthworms.

i have 3 buckets & counting for my "Fukushima-free" compost pile. it's a great way to build great soil, because you need moisture & nitrogen to mix with carbon-rich materials (e.g. straw) to create a culture that is hospitable for common (beneficial) soil bacteria.

[MNeagle]

I'd take the urine water over the flouride (& other pharma chemicals that are in there) any day!

[Neuro]

If it was just the thought of the urine in the water, that made them throw it away, they shouldn't refill the reservoir, unless they have thoroughly cleansed it of any remaining molecules from the mans urine that may stick to the wall of the reservoir. Theoretically for some people it may remain yucky forever to drink water originating from that reservoir. If drinking water with urine diluted about 50 million times is disgusting to some people, then wyat would stop them from being disgusted with water with 500 Trillionth of urine in it, believe it or not it will not make a huge difference!

[gunDriller]

If it was just the thought of the urine in the water, that made them throw it away, they shouldn't refill the reservoir, unless they have thoroughly cleansed it of any remaining molecules from the mans urine that may stick to the wall of the reservoir. Theoretically for some people it may remain yucky forever to drink water originating from that reservoir. If drinking water with urine diluted about 50 million times is disgusting to some people, then wyat would stop them from being disgusted with water with 500 Trillionth of urine in it, believe it or not it will not make a huge difference!

seeing as how the reservoir is all toxic - maybe they'd sell it to me for discount.

wonder if they'd take $1 ?


it's odd how people get so squeamish about a few PPM of urine, and completely ignore the subject of fluoride.

[Dogman]

Unbelievable

Open air ready to drink treated water reservoirs, that anything can fly or fall in. Water towers must spoil the view.

45°30'33.70"N 122°35'36.10"W

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&biw=1047&bih=492&q=45%C2%B030%2733.70%22N%20%20122%C2%B035%2736.10% 22W&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl

Edited: My first post was wrong!

[willie pete]

What, exactly, is bad about urine, anyhow?
IINM it is primarily water and uric acid with some secreted vitamins and minerals. It's effectively gatorade. I understand it to be sterile on emission and it is simply the nutritional value which makes it a haven for bacteria to grow in once it has been expelled.
Obviously I don't want to directly drink urine but I would be willing to drink from an 8 million gallon container that I watched you dump 50 gallons of fresh urine into.


urine is sterile IN the bladder, Unless you have a bladder infection,...... you don't eliminate sterile urine though, and I wouldn't think it'd be a haven for bacteria after it's eliminated either, because of the Na+ content,(Unless it's been contaminated from one of many venereal diseases or other pathogenes) I think the foul odor comes from the decomposition, if your urine comes out with a foul odor, mucous threads or "sand".....You've "won" yourself a UTI.....lol

[Hatha Sunahara]

I walk around this reservoir every day. I have been doing it for 20+ years now. I've noticed a change since 911. Before 911, there was no security at this reservoir. After 911, the Water Bureau installed security cameras which they have regularly upgraded, and now they have cameras with IR lighting and some really fancy features. In addition, during daylight hours, there is a constant presence of security guards. They must really be worried that the reservoir will be a target of a terror attack. So much so that the Water Bureau proposed, with the support of many local politicians to turn this reservoir into a covered one, so that there would be nothing but a grassy field on top of it. That project would have cost Portland water consumers a huge number of millions of dollars. A group called 'Friends of the Reservoir formed to oppose this idiotic construction project that would have benefitted only the people who built it. The project was eventually shelved after demonstrations with people forming a human chain around the reservoir showing the buttholes who run the water bureau that there was strong public opposition. I think part of the cost for shelving it was to approve a larger project that had the street in front of the reservoir blocked for three years, causing local residents much inconvenience.

I am not surprised to hear that someone drained the reservoir because they saw a guy peeing in it on their security cameras. This was never a problem before the security cameras were installed. However, the date of the article above is June 19, 2011. This incident must have happened some time ago because for the last week or so, both sides of the reservoir (there is a wall running down the middle) were close to empty, and there were workers doing a pressure wash of the floor of the reservoir. I don't believe that the reservoir contained more than a foot of water on either side in the last month or longer. The reservoir is about 20 feet deep. The walls are sloped, and the top 19 feet were dry. There is an iron fence around the whole thing. A guy with a full bladder could not have produced enough pee to do anything but get the walls above the water wet.

I'm not sure, but I doubt that a foot of water would come to 8 million gallons. I have to do the math. The perimeter of the reservoir is .591 miles, or roughly or 3,120 feet. It is roughly square, so I assume about 780 feet on a side. It is divided in half, so only one side should have been emptied. One side would be 780feet X 390 feet, or 304,000 sq. feet. A one foot depth of water would be only 304,000 cubic feet of water. One cubic foot of water contains 7.5 gallons. So, by my calculations, the amount of water that could have been emptied for one guy peeing is about 2.3 million gallons. That's one big flush. I don't feel too guilty any more about flushing the toilet with 4 gallons of water after I pee in it. The guy that ordered it flushed may be overreacting a bit, but the journalism profession always, and I mean always, is pretty loose with facts that are measured in numbers--often getting things wrong by orders of magnitude.

Hatha

[Hatha Sunahara]

The picture in the OP is not of this reservoir. This reservoir is surrounded by residential houses, and a small public park called Mt Tabor park.

I am attaching a picture I took less than an hour ago with my cell phone of the reservoir in question. This picture is from the NE corner looking west. It was taken on 062111 at 1342 hrs. There is approximately one foot of water or less in the reservoir. You can see the sloping walls with a short vertical wall approximately 3 feet high atop the perimeter. Mounted atop this short vertical stone wall is a wrought iron fence that is approximately 5 feet high.

Anyone trying to pee in this reservoir would have to stand on top of the low stone wall and pee through the bars of the wrought iron fence. They would need a stream of pee approximately 15 feet long to reach the water. Most adult males cannot manage such a long stream. The pee would fall on the dry sloped wall of the reservoir and drip down the wall, making it wet. Very little of the pee would reach the water.

The water level in this reservoir has not been any higher than what you see here for at least the last two weeks. It is at the same level on the other side of the wall in the middle of the reservoir.

I don't know whether to think that the administrators of the water bureau are idiots, or if this whole story is just a large fraud, or if we are seeing a little of both here.

Hatha

[gunDriller]

plus Portland is in an Ag state.

if the Portland water administrator felt that his water supply was unrepairably tainted - Jeez at least he could have shared it with any of the thousands of farms that are near Portland !

is there anything like a Public Servant Idiot of the Year award ?

besides the US pResidency ? :-)

[mick silver]

i hope they did not let any of that water run off to a lake or a creek . dam what will we do now

[Hatha Sunahara]

One thing I find beneficial about living in Portland is that the water is not fluoridated. I think I'd be more of a sheep if it was. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of sheep in Portland, but they get their fluoride from their dentists. I have always refused fluoride treatment from my dentist.

There are signs on the reservoir fence telling people not to feed the 'migratory birds' (ducks) that fly into the reservoir. I suppose I'll see signs going up telling people about the zero tolerance policy for people peeing in the reservoir. At one time there were signs that said "This is your drinking water. Do not throw any objects into the reservoir."

I remember once they fished a dead body out of this

reservoir. I can't remember if they flushed it for that, but I doubt it because it was in the middle of the winter, and the body had only been dead for a few hours.

Hatha