San Francisco's water manager caught peeing in public water supplies

(NaturalNews) A high-paid San Francisco water manager thought it was a good idea to urinate "several times" in a reservoir that supplies drinking water to nearly 2.5 million Bay Area residents. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, it was Public Utilities Commission employee Martin Sanchez who took a leak in the Priest Reservoir in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains on January 6.

Sanchez is in charge of managing the reservoir and reportedly gets paid $111,000 a year to do so. He's was suspended for five whole days without pay.

Utilities commission spokesman Tyrone Jue said the entire 674 million-gallon reservoir was already drained for maintenance when Sanchez committed the deed. The SF Chronicle got an anonymous tip from a commission insider who echoed the reports of several employees who saw Manager Sanchez peeing "several times" in the reservoir. Residents are told not to worry because the water is treated with chlorine and ultraviolet light before it is piped into the Bay Area.

Jue said Sanchez's actions are "not acceptable." "The bottom line is -- you pee in the wrong place again, and you are toast," Jue told the SF Chronicle.

Water shortages in Southern California rage on while a water manager upstate pees in reservoir

While California water managers are busy urinating in water reservoirs, others in Southern California are experiencing years-long drought conditions.

At a recent water reallocation meeting, Metropolitan General Manager Jeffrey Kightlinger stated, "Southland consumers have responded to the water conservation challenge this past year. We all, however, need to be prepared to take water saving to another level this summer if water supply conditions don't improve."

Kightlinger met with committee members of the California State Water Project, which is considering new water delivery scenarios from Northern California to Southern California for 2015.

At this point, 280,000 acre-feet of water are set to be reallocated from the North to the thirsty south. That's enough water to help 280,000 families for one year.

The situation is more dire than people in the North have realized. As Kightlinger points out, the Southland's reserves hold about 1.2 million acre-feet, which is less than half of what the Metropolitan Water District held in storage at the end of 2012.

"This is a serious situation," Kightlinger said. "The challenge is how we balance the region's demands with the available imported supplies, while maintaining sufficient reserves in case the drought continues beyond this year."

Sources:

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com

http://www.naturalnews.com

http://finance.yahoo.com

http://www.foxnews.com