Man Urinates into Reservoir - Whole Reservoir Has to be Drained
55 replies, posted
Source: [url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13874089[/url]
[quote]
"Nobody wants to drink pee, and I don't want to deal with the 100 people who would be unhappy that I'm serving them pee in their water."
Those are the words of David Shaff, a water bureau official in Oregon's biggest city Portland, after flushing away 32 million litres of water.
They decided to take the drastic action after security cameras caught a 21-year-old man urinating into an uncovered reservoir. The water had already been purified and was to go directly to homes.
Josh Seater says he felt "guilty" after urinating in the reservoir
But such a situation would never arise in the UK, for instance, because while most people think of reservoirs as outdoor lakes which are lovely to walk the dog around, all of the reservoirs containing treated water are covered.
While public health experts in the US said the urine in the reservoir was so diluted that it posed little health risk, the Oregon water chiefs did not want to take any chances. Plus, the cameras also showed something, as yet unidentified, being thrown into the water.
Toxicologist Prof Alan Boobis is "flabbergasted" by what he says is a complete overreaction.
"In a healthy person, urine is sterile. It's something we can say with confidence - it's not going to have any impact on anyone whatsoever."
He says even if chemicals were in the urine, they would not be in large enough quantities to cause damage.
"We are exposed to chemicals all the time but the intake is already below a level that's going to cause harm.
"Urine contains a whole range of substances that the body has no need for. It might contain chemicals that are potentially harmful but the levels are going to be very low when expelled by the body, and even lower when diluted by water."
Prof Boobis, from Imperial College London, points out that the reservoir already probably contained urine from fish and animals.
"The water was treated, so some bacterial agent was already killing things," he adds. "If someone urinates in a swimming pool, it doesn't become a problem, and that is a much smaller body of water."
Dr Paul Rumsby, from the Swindon-based Water Research Centre, says the US response was "very conservative" and "public acceptability" was probably more of a factor than science.
He says if there had been a similar breach of security in the UK, a barrage of tests would have been carried out before dumping the water.
Thames Water, the UK's largest water and sewerage company, says all of its treated water reservoirs are covered to protect water quality, and the water is treated to stringent UK and European quality standards.
Sue Pennison, from the Drinking Water Inspectorate, says that since 1990, it has not been permitted in law for a treated water reservoir in the UK to be open to the elements.
"This is in order to protect supplies from contamination from many hazards, of which this example (human) is just one," she adds.
She says reservoirs containing treated water are emptied for inspection and cleaning every 10 to 15 years.
The human contaminator in the Oregon case said he had been drinking with friends and thought the reservoir was a sewage treatment plant.
[/quote]
Drama queens.
I understand why but 32 million litres is too much to do this over.
[QUOTE=Inconspicuous;30645465]I understand why but 32 million litres is too much to do this over.[/QUOTE]
He pissed in drinking water, it was flushed so it can be re-purified.
What, I've seen plenty of reservoirs which have [i]ducks[/i] in them
[quote]"This is in order to protect supplies from contamination from many hazards, of which this example (human) is just one," she adds.
She says reservoirs containing treated water are emptied for inspection and cleaning every 10 to 15 years.
[B]The human contaminator in the Oregon case said he had been drinking with friends and thought the reservoir was a sewage treatment plant[/B].[/quote]
It's impressive that he failed to notice there wasn't that classic "sewage treatment plant" smell you'd likely notice while approaching it.
Why is drinking water uncovered anyway?
Birds can shit in it and stuff.
[QUOTE=ExplodingGuy;30645487]He pissed in drinking water, it was flushed so it can be re-purified.[/QUOTE]
Reservoir water doesn't go straight to tap you know
At the end of the article it seems to turn into a competition between the UK and it's obviously superior water supplies, and the US and it's inferior uncovered water.
I read about this the other day. Pretty funny.
[QUOTE=ExplodingGuy;30645487]He pissed in drinking water, it was flushed so it can be re-purified.[/QUOTE]
Did you read it the OP?
It would have had no effect.
[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;30645500]Why is drinking water uncovered anyway?
Birds can shit in it and stuff.[/QUOTE]
Can't charge a bird with a crime and give the media an orgasm with it.
Oh US you so silly!
[QUOTE=rampageturke 2;30645502]Reservoir water doesn't go straight to tap you know[/QUOTE]
[quote]The water had already been purified and was to go directly to homes.[/quote]
Why is water being left open if it's going directly to homes
Bear Gryls tasted the water and thought the taste of piss was stronger than American beer.
Toxicologist Prof Alan Boobis
:v:
Didn't this... like... just happen a few weeks ago as well?
Let me crunch some numbers assuming the adult body can hold 16 ounces of urine, that means they flushed 32 million liters of water over 16 ounces of urine in the water.
32 million liters is 1,082,048,730 ounces. So that water was 0.000001478 percent urine, but think about the fact that although it IS urine, it's mostly water to begin with.
That's absolutely ridiculous.. not to mention if it was accessible for him to pee in.. other contaminants in the air and surrounding area could just have easily gotten in.
In a perfect would where people drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day, that much water could have served 135,256,091 people their daily water limit. [B]The entire state of Oregon has 3,831,074 people. [/B]With that much water, the entire state of Oregon could've had their own recommended amount of drinking water for 35 days.
The more I do this the more pissed off I get. People are really, really stupid sometimes.
[QUOTE=iNova;30646267]Toxicologist Prof Alan Boobis
:v:[/QUOTE]
Was just about to point that out. :v:
That made my day.
Whoever had this reservoir drained is a fucking idiot.
come on, it's portland
it's not like they're strangers to drinking odd stuff
And Alan was boobis
[QUOTE=faze;30645430]"Nobody wants to drink pee,"[/QUOTE]
[img]http://badassoftheweek.com/grylls.jpg[/img]
It's just a holding pond of already unsuitable-to-drink water, its full of bird, fish and other animal shit and piss along with countless toxins as it's just a big pond of river water diverted for purification.
draining the 32 million liter dirty-as-hell-by-default holding pond because 1 person took a piss in it is beyond retarded.
It'd be cool if the public got really mad for wastage + he had to retire over this.
[QUOTE=Zeke129;30646058]Why is water being left open if it's going directly to homes[/QUOTE]
Enclosed in dark spaces, mold and fungi :v:
[QUOTE=JeffAndersen;30646769]Let me crunch some numbers assuming the adult body can hold 16 ounces of urine, that means they flushed 32 million liters of water over 16 ounces of urine in the water.
32 million liters is 1,082,048,730 ounces. So that water was 0.000001478 percent urine, but think about the fact that although it IS urine, it's mostly water to begin with.
That's absolutely ridiculous.. not to mention if it was accessible for him to pee in.. other contaminants in the air and surrounding area could just have easily gotten in.
In a perfect would where people drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day, that much water could have served 135,256,091 people their daily water limit. [B]The entire state of Oregon has 3,831,074 people. [/B]With that much water, the entire state of Oregon could've had their own recommended amount of drinking water for 35 days.
The more I do this the more pissed off I get. People are really, really stupid sometimes.[/QUOTE]
it's the principle of the thing
Gotta hate stuff like this happening, but if they didn't drain it, everyone would have gotten in a shitfit and the director or the someone who 'should' have drained it would have gotten fired to stop it.
God knows why they didn't have it in a closed storage
[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;30645500]Why is drinking water uncovered anyway?
Birds can shit in it and stuff.[/QUOTE]
Because America, that's why.
[QUOTE=Raiskauskone V2;30648181]Because America, that's why.[/QUOTE]
Says the guy from the country that... well...
What weird stuff does Finland do in its spare time anyway? :raise:
[QUOTE=Psychokitten;30648334]Says the guy from the country that... well...
What weird stuff does Finland do in its spare time anyway? :raise:[/QUOTE]
Get naked and hit each other with willow branches
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