robb

"Watch out where the Huskies go and don't you eat that yellow snow"

Scooterboy

Every major city (and many smaller cities) dump raw sewage into our waterways every time there is a extremely heavy rain storm. While the EPA is trying to stop these over/out flows they still happen. We trust that our water processing plant clean all of the "crap" out of our drinking water.

Now if you drink untreated well water all bets are off.

boltonblue

It was remarkably ridiculous to drain it.
This line was the kicker
It reminds me of the line oft attributed to W.C. Fields " I don't drink water. Fish F&^% in it!!"

tonybell_57

I'm pretty sure there's far worse in the water than pee.

RedY2KS2k

I have a question: When the reservoir was drained after the 2011 incident, why was the $32,000 cost paid by the ratepayers rather than by the guy who peed in the reservoir? You break it, you buy it.

I never heard of anyone storing treated water in an open reservoir before.

Scooterboy

I can name at least four towns within 20 miles of where I sit that store untreated water in open reservoirs. They do this by pumping water in the reservoir when steam or river water levels are high than they have a backup for summer time when stream/river levels are low.

All of the cities here on the North Coast do it. We call our reservoir "Lake Erie".

RedY2KS2k

But according to the article, Portland stores treated water, ready to go into the distribution pipes, in open reservoirs.

There's an upground reservoir (pump water from the river during times of high water, release it back when the flow in the river is low) within 5 miles of my house. But again, that water is untreated and goes through the treatment plant after it's released.

SteveKelly

Urine is sterile so drinking it won't hurt you.

skunkworks

Maybe…I’ve heard the same thing in the past. Wikipedia’s take on urophagia is an interesting read.

In any case, if pressed into it I would drink the treated water, but as I said, “I would begrudgingly drink it”.