Call it the Big Flush 2 and this time the sequel promises to be much bigger than the original. Portland officials said they are flushing away millions of gallons of treated water for the second time in less than three years because someone urinated into a city reservoir. In June 2011, the city drained a 7.5 million-gallon reservoir at Mount Tabor in southeast Portland. This time, 38 million gallons from a different reservoir at the same location will be discarded after a 19-year-old was videotaped in the act.

"The basic commandment of the Water Bureau is to provide clean, cold and constant water to its customers," bureau administrator David Shaff said Wednesday. "And the premise behind that is we don’t have pee in it."

The open reservoirs hold water that has already been treated and goes directly into mains for distribution to customers.

The urine poses little risk – animals routinely deposit waste without creating a public health crisis – but Shaff said he doesn’t want to serve water that was deliberately tainted.

"There is at least a perceived difference from my perspective," Shaff said. "I could be wrong on that, but the reality is our customers don’t anticipate drinking water that’s been contaminated by some yahoo who decided to pee into a reservoir."

Water-quality test samples have been taken from the reservoir, with the results due soon. The water will be drained into the sewage system, eventually reaching a treatment plant before it’s dumped into the Columbia River.[…]