An Oregon teen denies urinating in Portland's water supply — an alleged bathroom break that caused 38 million gallons to be flushed for sanitary worries.
In an exclusive interview with Vocativ, 18-year-old Dallas Swonger said he urinated on the reservoir's wall, but not into it on Wednesday.
“Everybody thinks it’s funny and a joke and I’m going to be on the news,” Swonger told the publication. “It’s no f--ing joke, dude. I don’t want people thinkin’ that Dallas is a dumb ass because he pissed in the f--in’ water. In our drinking water. Yeah, that’s f--ing awesome. I mean, wouldn’t you be pissed about that?”
Water Bureau Administrator David Shaff told the Associated Press that they would flush all 38 million gallons of water following the alleged incident, despite animals routinely discarding waste into the reservoir without creating a health crisis for Portland residents.
"The reality is our customers don't anticipate drinking water that's been contaminated by some yahoo who decided to pee into a reservoir," Shaff said.
The decision to drain the reservoir baffled Swonger.
“Like, how they can do that?” Swonger asked in regards to the massive amounts of water being flushed. “How can they be like, ‘Yeah, we’re gonna flush all that water.’ Dude, I’ve seen dead birds in there. During the summer time I’ve seen hella dead animals in there. Like dead squirrels and sh-t. I mean, really, dude?”
Security footage shows the teens loitering around and hopping a fence. Shaff told Oregon Live the video is enough evidence that Swonger urinated into the reservoir.
“When you see the video, he’s leaning right up because he has to get his little wee wee right up to the iron bars," Shaff said. "There’s really no doubt what he’s doing."
“I didn’t piss in the f--ing water,” Swonger said.
Swonger and his friends were cited for trespassing, and the suspect was cited for public urination.
In 2011, 7.8 million gallons of water were drained from the reservoir after a man was caught urinating in it.
Floy Jones, co-founder of the group Friends of the Reservoirs, told the AP that even if Swonger did indeed urinate in the reservoir, it wouldn't harm anyone.
"It's extremely wasteful," Jones said of the draining.
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