Portland will dump 38 million gallons of water from reservoir that teen peed in

David McNew/Getty Images

Portland will dump 38 million gallons of water from reservoir that teen peed in
(Image credit: David McNew/Getty Images)

Portland is draining 38 millions of gallons of treated water from a reservoir because a 19-year-old man drained himself into it.

Although the man's urine doesn't pose a health risk — animals routinely pee in the reservoirs, after all — a water department spokesman said the city doesn't want to deliver deliberately tainted material.

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Jordan Valinsky is the lead writer for Speed Reads. Before joining The Week, he wrote for New York Observer's tech blog, Betabeat, and tracked the intersection between popular culture and the internet for The Daily Dot. He graduated with a degree in online journalism from Ohio University.