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Public urination fiasco is forcing Portland to drain 38 million gallons of treated water

Public urination fiasco is forcing Portland to drain 38 million gallons of treated water

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For the second time in three years, one man's urine is forcing the city of Portland, Ore., to drain millions of gallons of treated water currently stored in an open reservoir. The first time someone was caught pissing in one of these open storage facilities back in 2011 the city ended up draining 7.5 million gallons of water, Fox News reports. But this time around, the urine made its way into an even larger reservoir, so the city is now planning to dump the entirety of the its contents — contents that amount to 38 million gallons of treated water — directly into the city's sewage system.

"contaminated by some yahoo who decided to pee into a reservoir"

Even though city officials say that the urine doesn't pose any sort of health risk, the reality is that people just don't want to ingest water that they think is tainted. Portland's bureau administrator David Shaff told Fox News that "our customers don't anticipate drinking water that's been contaminated by some yahoo who decided to pee into a reservoir" — so out it goes.

According to city officials, the person responsible for the urinary discharge is a 19-year-old male. He and two other men were videotaped trying to scale the reservoir's metal fence around 1am on Wednesday morning. The tape also shows the young man peeing through the enclosure. As a result, he has been cited for public urination.

Last time this happened, the city ended up paying $7,500 in disposal costs and lost at least $28,000 in revenue. But draining the reservoir shouldn't pose a problem for Portland's thirsty citizens, officials said. They still have plenty of clean water to meet demand and 38 million gallons will be easy to replace. It's hard not to point out, however, that animals must pee and defecate in Portland's open reservoirs on a regular basis. So, in the grand scheme of things, this 19-year-old's pee really just seems like one too many. The city, Fox News reports, is now testing the reservoir's water for quality, despite having already decided to dump the water. The results are due today.