A recent news item: http://time.com/66459/portland-reservoir-pee/
"Portland Dumps 38 Million Gallons of Water After Man Pees in Reservoir April 17, 2014 The city plans to dump 38 million gallons of water after authorities say a 19-year-old urinated in a large, uncovered reservoir during an early morning jaunt with two other friends, even though the contamination likely poses little risk . . ." "Little risk" is incorrect. This poses absolutely no risk. Birds and other animals defecate into reservoirs at a far higher rate than this. This is an example of the kind of unscientific thinking that has dogged society in recent years. I say it is OFF TOPIC in the title, but it is actually somewhat on topic. Some of the resistance to cold fusion comes from this kind of anti-science attitude. Here is a comment about this I wrote on Slate: This is an example of unscientific, irrational thinking. This is same kind of nonsense that causes people to doubt the efficacy of vaccinations. The city of Portland should resist doing this because it is not scientific and there is absolutely no technical or medical justification for it. Officials who understand science should not give in to mass hysteria based on ignorance. That is a dangerous thing to do. In this case it merely wastes water, energy and money. In other cases it may endanger the public. Irrational fears cause decision makers to put far too much emphasis on some preventive measures, which means they do not have the resources to deal with other measures that would do more good. - Jed
