Taking the (very dilute) piss

[Jarlaxle]

They should charge the idiot that peed in the reservoir with public urination.

They should charge the idiot that decided to waste 8,000,000 gallons of water the entire cost of that decidion, and the cost x10 for being a FUCKING MORON.

Many cities, as JG observed, purify & recycle sewage into drinking water...I have lived in places where this was done. It's perfectly safe. I don't drink anything from a "municipal" water supply...not because it's unsafe, but because after drinking well water most of my life, I can't stand the overpowering chlorine taste.

[Long Run]

I'm assuming that any water stored in that reservoir would have to go through a purification process before it is piped into the city supply.

One would think that would have to be the case....

Aside from animals pissing in it, what about things like dead birds?

And in "The city that works" you would both be wrong with your common sense assumption. We have a very pure water source being so close to mountain snow runoff. This is a storage facility for such pure water, that is being held on a hiillside before going to homes. The feds are saying these resevoirs need to be capped at a substantial cost, and the city is complaining. This is an example of needing to do so, even though there is an extremely small health risk given the dilution of the minor amount of contaminants. The water bureau regularly tests the water in the resevoirs for health risks.

I remember when young, I grew up in a (once) pristine area that had one of the first teritiary treatment plants for sewage. They would give you a glass of water on entry and then you take the tour and realize that rather than drinking the ultra pure water that showed up in most homes, you had had a drink of the cleaned up stuff (such stuff being pumped over the mountains so as to not spoil the actual environment).

The yahoo who did the peeing will escape with a minimal citation. Heck, most reports don't even give his name so that he can be properly scorned!

As to the "cost" of $36,000, this is purely hypothetical. The bureau started with a much higher estimate. However, in this year with all the water and more that one could hope for, there is no loss from a product standpoint since not one ounce less of water has been sold.

[Scooter]

Just an indication of how stupidly over the top the decision to drain was:

The reservoirs are drained twice a year for cleaning, and workers have found animal carcasses, paint cans, construction material, fireworks debris and even the plastic bags people use to scoop up after their dogs, said David Shaff, administrator of the city water bureau.

So rotting animals, hazardous chemical waste, and dog feces are OK, but a 0.000003% concentration of human pee (assuming a very full bladder) is not.