Taking the Piss*

A 21-year-old man on a beer-drinking night urinated into one of our city reservoirs, and because of the "yuck factor," a Portland official decided to drain 8 million gallons of water at a cost of about $36,000. Details, including a video of the piss in progress, here. I sympathize with the official, who is taking a lot of abuse from citizens who feel he over-reacted. I think if he had decided to ignore it, the TV news would have hit him from the other direction. It's not as if the official did anything wrong. What puzzles me is that the 21-year-old who caused the trouble has not even been arrested, charged, or fined! I'd like to see him pay the $36,000 back to the city.

Here is the reservoir in question, almost empty today. There are signs clearly posted all around the reservoir that say, "Anyone throwing objects of any kind into this reservoir shall be subject to arrest.... This is your drinking water!!!" (The official sign does have three exclamation points.)

I think this is one for a blog called First World Problems.

P.S. Forgot to mention: the news report I heard began with a reporter saying, "In the wee hours of the morning...." I'm still giggling. The situation is ripe for punning. I had several titles in mind and will gladly edit the title if anyone suggests a better one.

*With thanks to goateebooknerd and ceridwen. Definition (for North Americans and other linguistically-deprived people) here.