Posted on 05/24/2014 10:40:46 AM PDT by Star Traveler
Memorial Day weekend is starting off on a bad note for residents of Portland, Oregon, after the Water Bureau issued a boil notice covering the entire city on Friday. The warning was issued after employees at the Water Bureau detected the presence of E. coli bacteria in three separate water tests performed on each of the past three days, indicating that the water supply had been contaminated by feces. The Oregon Health Authority advised that the notice be given city-wide. Also affected are Portland’s wholesale customers, who receive their water from the Bull Run Watershed.
The Bureau advises that affected customers boil all tap water that is going to be used for food preparation, drinking, making ice or brushing teeth for a minimum of one minute. Should any ice or beverages prepared with water that was not boiled on or after May 20 remain, those items should be thrown away.
Jaymee Cuti, spokesperson for the Portland Water Bureau, stated that E. coli was found during routine testing by city employees of two of Portland’s Mt. Tabor reservoirs. The tests took place between May 20 and May 23 at the outlets of uncovered reservoirs 1 and 5 in addition to a water sampling station. The two contaminated reservoirs have been removed from the water system.
Cuti said that of the 935,000 metro area customers who receive their drinking water from Portland, 670,000 of them are affected by the boil notice. It is believed that the overall health risk to customers is “relatively small,” according to Portland Water Bureau Administrator David Shaff, who went on to say that any level of contamination is taken very seriously.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardianlv.com ...
HOUSE_OF_CARDS_PING!
Some hippie probably took a dump in the city reservoir again!
I was there for about 40 years and never heard of such a “boil water order” once, for the city. This is quite an unusual situation.
An excellent reminder that having 10 days worth of independence from such interruptions and blackouts, is a prudent thing to do.
People who depend on electric, would be having trouble boiling their water if this happened during a blackout.
After that story a few weeks back about the kid urinating in the reservoir (in which they had to drain it), I find it hard to believe that our water supplies are this vulnerable. Is it that easy to contaminate a reservoir?
Something has changed in the last 50 years ... and it’s not the security or the facilities that have changed. It’s the number of people wishing to cause harm that has changed.
Ugh, looking at the headline and seeing the words- BOIL, and FECES. Hmmm, Think I’ll read it later, but after lunch not before.
Domestic terrorism.
From either jihadis or collectivists or both!
That’s my take.
There was no reason to drain the reservoir. Anyone who has ever got a mouth full of water while swimming in a public pool had a dose of urine that was thousands of times more potent.
Portland does have a radical Muslim population.
Heavily protected by Oregon politicians.
I have it on good authority that Occupy Portland set up camp next to the reservoir.
The Weathermen were active decades ago; I can’t believe large populations were so exposed all this time. The guy urinating in the reservoir probably had no intention of harming anyone.
“There was no reason to drain the reservoir. Anyone who has ever got a mouth full of water while swimming in a public pool had a dose of urine that was thousands of times more potent.”
I was puzzled by that as well; people buried in earthquakes have survived on a bit of their own pee.
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