Portland Reservoir Gets Drained After Man Urinates In It
Plenty of pee-pee jokes, too, in case you’re going through withdrawal after that Weiner^2 thing.
The coverage covers the right scientific issues.
“It’s inappropriate behavior. But how many animals are doing that or birds?” he said. “I don’t want to second-guess the city, but I can’t think of anything chemically that would have me be concerned.”
Dr. Gary Oxman, the Multnomah County health officer who advises the city on infectious disease issues, also explained to the The Oregonian that the typical bladder holds a mere 6-8 ounces of water, which should quickly dilute in the reservoir and pose negligible health risks. That news should relieve Portland residents.
A city official claimed that science doesn’t matter
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.”
But you are already drinking pee. Much of the water in the reservoir was inside of an animal at one time or another. Tell the people that it gets treated, for crying out loud!
h/t to PhDwannabe
Can’t help but notice another chance to make a jab at homeopathy:
homeopathic remedies are more dilute than the urine in the Portland Reservoir even 🙂
reminds me of a story my parents friends told about a canoe trip in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.
They stopped on a portage to get a drink out of a nice clear running stream. About 50 yards further up the portage, they came across a dead moose in the stream.
i wonder what homeopathic dead moose cures?
lol.
By the numbers, rounded:
8 floz urine = 280 ml
7.8 million gallons = 3×10^10 ml
Generously asume drunkard’s urine is 5% solids.
Total contamination: 0.5 parts-per-billion. One presumes the “contaminated” water was sequestered as industrial hazardous waste. Pass a law requiring all public urinators to have previously consumed a fluorescent dye marker so that their micturations are traceable to sub-parts-per-billion levels. Maybe photon counting will detect it.