LOl WTF
Im sure animals will have peed in there at some point....
What's the difference?
Why dump it all?
A young man who relieved himself in a Portland reservoir prompted the local water authority to flush 7.8 million gallons of drinking water down the toilet. The 21-year-old was spotted by officials in the early hours of last Wednesday walking with four chums close to the Mount Tabor H2O repository. While some of his pals "threw …
And surely it gets treated before being piped to the home. There could be all kinds of crap in a reservoir.
If NASA can recycle pee into drinkable water in space, I wouldn't be too worried about this.
Although that has raised the question of etiquette among space travellers... do they share?
Drinking water is not treated, it is monitored for bacteria and contaminants. Sewage is treated and water from treated sewage is sometimes returned to the water supply, but that's your lot. It would be too costly to treat water and it's a common misconception both in the UK and US.
It is tested for things that would make you puke or die and they do add floride, but that's it. Of course the tiny amount of piss this guy added to the supply was irrelevant.
Dont they have a system to filter and clean the water?
What do they do about all the animals peeing in the water, not to mention dying, laying eggs etc.
And, sod the urine, what about all the rubbish people can throw in there....
Does this mean that they treat the water in the reservoir as drinking water without any further treatment?
(mines the one with the bottle of Evian in the pocket..)
Ok, so, we have this open body of water, where all manner of animals can climb in and take a swim, where birds can relieve themselves, and where rain falls. Dirt washes in, people throw stuff in, bugs get stuck in it, various creatures drown in it... And they're worried about urine? Really?
And forget the PR side of things; if they hadn't flushed it, no one would have known about it. "Man pees in pond" is hardly news that travels well.
What's even more bizarre is that head honcho openly admits to finding dead birds inside the reservoir!
"Shaff said the Water Bureau regularly finds dead animals in the same drinking supply but doesn't dump the water. "This is different," he said.
"Do you want to drink pee?" he asked bluntly.
When questioned about scientific data and the small amount of urine in such a large reservoir, he interjected: "Answer the question. It has nothing to do with scientifically.
"Most people," he added, "are gonna be pretty damn squeamish about that."
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2011/06/man_caught_urinating_in_mt_tab.html
So, the water goes straight out of the reservoir into peoples' taps (or faucets)? It doesn't get filtered or purified en route? Is the reservoir in open air? Can animals get in it? Personally I would rather drink 1 billionth dilute of a strangers p*ss than all the other animal poo, wee and assiciated 'deposits' that are more likely to be in the water.
Looks like the local water authority are trying to make a point..... and doing a piss-poor job!
Urine is a none toxic substance but some of its ingredients (sodium, potassium calcium, etc.) diluted by 7.8 million gallons of water might create a whole range of rather potent homeopathic medicines.
These might cause severe reactions if consumed by anyone who believes in that kind on nonsense.
Presumably this was an open air reservoir that birds fly over and shit in? That fish, insects andother wildlife live and die in? That captures water running off surrounding land? Do American’s normally drink direct from that without it being cleaned first? Or is there something significantly more toxic about American pee?
If a water company thinks that water was clean before then I wouldn't want to be their customer.
A long long time ago,
I can still remember,
When our water used to taste divine.
And I knew if we all ran out,
Of beer and whisky, rum and stout,
It would be as tasty as the wine.
But several awful Buds thereafter,
Found me facing a disaster,
Bladder overflowing,
I couldn't stop from going!
I really think I should have looked,
For the signs that said I would be booked,
The sheriff says I might be fucked,
The day the water died...
Sorry, couldn't resist ;o)
This post has been deleted by its author
Open to the air and also to whatever happens to fly over/fall into it? And this official truly believes that a single load of urine is the worst possible thing that could ever go in there? Nature really isn't all pretty flowers and cuddly wabbits and it's stretching belief to breaking point to suggest the water in there was all sparkly clean before that little extra was added to it.
OK, so the guy probably deserves a reprimand and a fine for his thoughtlessness. The official deserves the sack for his crazily over-zealous reaction and refusal to consider the science. And the bill for the waste ought to be charged to him, since he was obviously 'responsible' for making the decision.
Thank you, *now* it makes sense, both from a draining it perspective and a "how the hell do you mistake a lake for a sewage works?" one.
For some reason[1] that important piece of information was missing from every reported version I've seen so far.
[1] Sensationalist journalism looks favourite.
The boss of the reservoir on the radio also mentioned that he could have safely ignored the guy peeing in the water as it was heavily diluted. And he has already had dozens of complaints about flushing the water. But just imagine the complaints he would of had if he hadn't of flushed it.
They are not exactly short of water in his area either.
The owner of the reservoir was on the radio on Monday Night talking about it. He also explained that his place is only one of 12 in the US with no roof on the processed \ clean part of the water storage. A roof is coming soon.
But since when did facts get in the way of a good story? Even the guy interviewing him on the radio kept missing the bit about this being one (of many) processed water storage tanks and not the main reservoir along with the rest of the normal duck mess and dead animals that normal reside in there.
If all it takes is one guy's urine to ruin a reservoir full of water, terrorists could have a fucking field day with a barrel of LSD. What a ridiculous reaction to this.
Are they going to spend some money on moving the fence back a few metres/electrifying it?
After watching that clip (AC 13:33) maybe he was a fall guy and there was a more sinister reason for flushing it.
"If all it takes is one guy's urine to ruin a reservoir full of water, terrorists could have a fucking field day with a barrel of LSD. What a ridiculous reaction to this."
Actually, they can't. LSD is a VERY fragile molecule, it's destroyed by the chlorine in tap water very, very quickly. This was determined when there was concern that just this scenario may occur with the Chicago water supply.
So terrorists can happily poison you, or do all sorts of other nasty things, but you'll be safe from an entire town tripping their minds out.
Oregon is actually a popular tourist destination (beautiful mountains and forest, nice people, temperate climate), and also just happens to make some of the best beer in the US (on par with your Real Ale).
Of course, assuming the entire US is Alabama is easier, isn't it?
"I'm still so going once they've refilled it, filling up on the poor excuse for beer that they have, and taking a pee in the biggest flushing toilet in the world! :D"
You clearly haven't had Oregon beer, or frankly any of the other non-mainstream beer in the US.
http://www.rogue.com/awards/awards.php
http://www.calderabrewing.com/Page.asp?NavID=7
http://www.deschutesbrewery.com/brews/accolades