Portland officials say a 21-year-old man admitted urinating in a Mt. Tabor reservoir early Wednesday, forcing the city to take a key water supply off line.

Police responded but did not cite the man or his friends. Video surveillance and reports written by police and the Portland Water Bureau will be submitted to the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office for possible criminal charges.

"It'll kind of depend on what the surveillance video shows," said Sgt. Pete Simpson, a police spokesman. "He's not out of the water yet."

Covering Portland's open-air reservoirs has been a politically charged topic in recent years and the Water Bureau is working to comply with federal regulations. Last month the Portland City Council approved an $80 million contract to build a new reservoir at Powell Butte that will eventually help mitigate closing open-air storage at Mt. Tabor.

David Shaff, administrator for the Water Bureau, said about 7.8 million gallons of drinking water will be discarded because of the incident. He originally said that will cost the bureau about $600,000 in lost revenue but later clarified that his math was very wrong, and that the water would have sold for a retail price of almost $28,500, and disposal fees are expected at about $7,600.

Shaff said the Water Bureau regularly finds dead animals in the same drinking supply but doesn't dump the water. "This is different," he said.

"Do you want to drink pee?" he asked bluntly.

When questioned about scientific data and the small amount of urine in such a large reservoir, he interjected: "Answer the question. It has nothing to do with scientifically.

"Most people," he added, "are gonna be pretty damn squeamish about that."

Count Portland city Commissioner Randy Leonard, who oversees the Water Bureau, among those. After hearing about the incident, he quipped, "I think I'm going to have a Coke with my lunch today."

According to a Water Bureau incident report, officials spotted five people and a dog near reservoir No. 1 at about 1:30 a.m. Some of the people threw objects into the reservoir and one person "walked up to the reservoir fencing and urinated into the reservoir," according to the report.

The Oregonian is not naming the 21-year-old because he was not arrested or charged with a crime.

Once officials contacted the group and confronted the man about urinating, he reportedly said, "It was a stupid thing to do," according to the report.

When told he urinated in Portland's drinking water and his actions were disrespectful, he reportedly said, "I didn't mean to show disrespect. I thought this was a sewage treatment plant."

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