The city of Portland announced late Wednesday that it will flush nearly 38 million gallons of treated water because a teenager was busted peeing into a city reservoir.

The 19-year-old was caught on surveillance video peeing through an iron fence into the reservoir at about 1 am Wednesday. Along with two of his friends, the 19-year-old was cited for trespassing; he also received a ticket for public urination.

Water Bureau Administrator David Shaff said the water will be flushed because it was deliberately tainted, though he added the relatively-small amount of urine poses no health risk to the public.

"There is at least a perceived difference from my perspective," Shaff told the Associated Press. "I could be wrong on that, but the reality is our customers don't anticipate drinking water that's been contaminated by some yahoo who decided to pee into a reservoir."

Floy Jones, co-founder of the group Friends of the Reservoirs, disagrees with Shaff. "It's extremely wasteful," she said, noting that it's unclear if any of the urine even reached the reservoir.

For Shaff, though, the tainted water isn't worth the risk when you can just get more.

"It's easy to replace those 38 million gallons of water," Shaff said. "We're not in the arid Southwest; we're not in drought-stricken parts of Texas or Oklahoma."

Piss and fluoride: two substances Portland absolutely will not let near its drinking water.

[Image via AP]