Water Supply Cut Off After Man Urinates In Reservoir

PORTLAND, Ore.  (CBS Seattle) – A Portland, Oregon man urinated in a Mt. Tabor reservoir Wednesday causing the city to take it’s critical water supply off line and dump millions in gallons of water.

According to The Oregonian, officials saw five people throwing objects into the reservoir, while one person began to urinate into it through the fencing. Police did not cite the 21-year-old or his friends, but the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office may press criminal charges after surveillance video and police reports are reviewed.

“It’ll kind of depend on what the surveillance video shows,” Sgt. Pete Simpson explained to the newspaper.  ”He’s not out of the water yet.”

An administrator for the Water Bureau, David Shaff, said that because of this incident, roughly 7.8 million gallons of drinking water will be discarded.  He said the bureau often finds dead animals in the same drinking supply but the water isn’t dumped.

“This is different,” Shaff told the newspaper. “Do you want to drink pee?”

Shaff continued by saying most people would be “squeamish” about drinking water that has been urinated in.

The newspaper did not name the man who urinated because he was not arrested or charged with a crime.

Police confronted the man about urinating in the reservoir and he told them it was a stupid thing to do.

When they explained to him that his actions were “disrespectful” and that he urinated in the water supply, he reportedly said in a report, “I didn’t mean to show disrespect.  I thought this was a sewage treatment plant.”

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