Apparently the water commissioner is running for re-election, so dumping 38m gallons of water seems safer than behaving like an adult and explaining the actual risk factor (virtually zero).
This epitomizes the flawed nature of our political system. I really think that we have far too many elected officials and not enough commissioned ones (EDIT: I should have said appointed) who can be fired or otherwise held accountable. As I age I'm more and more inclined towards technocratic government.
I would say that it's a problem with our population in general, and specifically our science education, than it is with the political system.
With a well educated populace, a stupid "better safe than sorry" act like this would result in losing the election, not saving it.
Now, I don't know if it's actually possible to achieve that state. But I think that any other fix is just going to work around symptoms rather than addressing the root cause of the problem. Political pressure still applies to appointed posts, after all, it's just somewhat less direct. Instead of the water commissioner making this call for his own election, he'd just be told to do it by whatever elected official is above him.
I'm as cynical as you are, but in the long run, it could have been a positive decision because they may have prevented a public perception of how they give everyone "pee water", where many people irrationally stop drinking tap, and switch to bottled (a bad thing for many reasons).
I believe that if you subsidize irrational behavior you will just get more of it. As a reductio ad absurdum, suppose someone hung themselves next to the reservoir, and it was proposed to drain and refill the reservoir to get rid of 'ghost water.' Of course that would be ridiculous, but if you did it then you might just as easily set a precedent.
Indeed, a quick search for 'ghost reservoir' turns up stories from places as diverse as New Jersey and Singapore, although these are related to drownings, which would present a much more significant health hazard. Fortunately, authorities in those places seem to have kept things in perspective. It's a lot better to just go on TV, tell everyone that the water is actually fine, thank you, and then drink a glass of it on camera to underline the point. Sure, a few crazies will think there's a big cover up and post about it on infowars or wherever, but those are the same people that think flouridation is part of a government plot to kill us all. Fuck them.
It isn't water commissioner. It is city commissioner who runs the water bureau. Portland has commission form of government where the commissioners are legislative body like city council but also runs departments.
That's not true. There are many elected positions with the title of commissioner. For example, Port commissioner, County commissioner, or a PUD commissioner.
This epitomizes the flawed nature of our political system. I really think that we have far too many elected officials and not enough commissioned ones (EDIT: I should have said appointed) who can be fired or otherwise held accountable. As I age I'm more and more inclined towards technocratic government.