--- description: The city is diverting it to another reservoir, but it still won’t be used for drinking title: Portland Saves Urine-Tainted Water image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [cities](/tag/cities/) ## cities Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Portland Saves Urine-Tainted Water  by [Denver Nicks](/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 1, 2014 12:55 AM CUT  by [Denver Nicks](/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 1, 2014 12:55 AM CUT The city of Portland will not [dump](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/urine-tinged-water-diverted-another-reservoir "undefined") 35 million gallons of water, as it had planned to do after a teenager was busted on camera weeks ago urinating in the reservoir. Instead, the water has been diverted to another empty reservoir. Dallas Swonger, 19, was caught on camera peeing in a reservoir holding city drinking water two weeks ago, though he has claimed in media reports that he peed against a wall, not in the reservoir. The city [planned](http://time.com/66459/portland-reservoir-pee/ "undefined") to dump all of the water into the sewer, though it tested as safe to drink the day after the urination incident, but officials were forced to abandon the plan after the process was slowed down due to heavy rains, the Associated Press reports. Instead the water was moved into a reservoir that had been a public eyesore to test how long the water can safely fill the reservoir without circulating. The original reservoir has been refilled, and the water is going to customers. \[[AP](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/urine-tinged-water-diverted-another-reservoir "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/83673/portland-saves-urine-tainted-water/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/83673/portland-saves-urine-tainted-water/"},"headline":"Portland Saves Urine-Tainted Water","datePublished":"2014-05-01T00:55:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:35:46.980Z","description":"The city is diverting it to another reservoir, but it still won’t be used for drinking","url":"https://time.com/83673/portland-saves-urine-tainted-water/","keywords":["cities","Water","Portland","oregon"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Denver Nicks","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/cities/","name":"cities"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/83673/portland-saves-urine-tainted-water/","name":"Portland Saves Urine-Tainted Water"}}]}] ```