Editor’s note: David Zetland, is a senior water economist at Wageningen University in the Netherlands who trained in California. We
cross-post occasional content from his blog, Aguanomics, here
on the Range.
“Apparently the “End of Abundance” hasn’t hit Portland yet,” says HG in the email that brought me this story:
For the administrator of the Portland Water Bureau, the
decision Wednesday to drain 7.8 million gallons of drinking water from a
Mount Tabor reservoir comes down to six words:“Do you want to drink pee?” David Shaff asked.*
About 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, water officials say, a 21-year-old Molalla
man was caught on camera urinating in one of Portland’s uncovered
reservoirs — one that provides water to a majority of Portlanders.From a gross-out perspective, that’s enough to make residents wary of turning on the tap.
“I think I’m going to have a Coke with my lunch today,” said city
Commissioner Randy Leonard, who oversees the Water Bureau.** The bureau
recently began work on an $80 million project elsewhere to comply with
federal rules to cover city reservoirs.But does tossing out so much water — at a cost of more than $36,000 — make sense from a scientific or health angle?
Urine is pretty sterile chemically speaking, said Dave Stone, an
assistant professor in toxicology at Oregon State University who
specializes in chemical contaminants in water.“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.”
*Shaff (the Administrator — or general manager — of PWB) and ** Leonard (PWB’s Commissioner)
should know better. They are basically implying that the reservoirs are
full of Evian when they are full of water that’s going to be treated
anyway. They claimed that people in the area “may” have thrown objects
in the water, but those people were questioned. Seems like they were
more interested in finding an excuse to drain the water.
The pity is that people are NOW going to think their reservoirs are
super clean (not!) and that water recycling is way too gross (not!).
I just finished Charles Fishman’s Great Thirst
(review coming
soon!) and similar public anxieties have lead to very bad water supply
decisions (piping water over long distances, at triple the cost, to
avoid water recycling).
Bottom Line: Fail in Portland.
Addendum: Clay Landry et al. also lament
Portland’s wasteful use of “slightly soiled” water.
Essays in the Range blog are not written by High Country News. The authors are
solely responsible for the content.
Originally posted
at Aguanomics.
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