Portland city officials are having to flush millions of gallons of treated reservoir water after a 19-year-old man allegedly relieved himself in a non-traditional location.
It happened around 1 a.m. Wednesday as three teens snuck into Portland's Reservoir 5, which holds some of the city's drinking water. This security footage reportedly shows one of the guys leaning against the fence and presumably urinating. (Via KGW-TV)
Those three men were detained shortly after they were seen in the security footage, and hours later, Portland city officials decided to take the 50-million gallon reservoir offline and flush 38-million gallons. (Via KPTV)
The Portland Water Bureau there's little risk to the public's health but bureau administrator David Shaff says, "Our customers have an expectation that their water is not deliberately contaminated. We have the ability to meet that expectation."
This kind of incident has happened once before. The city flushed 8 million gallons of water in 2011 after a 21-year-old man urinated in another reservoir. (Via KOIN)
The Oregonian reports that previous episode was said to have cost $35,000, but KATU reports this most recent incident won't cost the city anything seeing that city employees are already scheduled to work.
Portland police cited all three men for trespassing and cited one of the men for public urination. The security footage will be reviewed by the district attorney's office and those men could face criminal charges.
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