Water Manager Told Off for Peeing in Reservoir

SF worker needs to 'zip up or get shipped out'
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 10, 2015 10:48 PM CST
Updated Feb 11, 2015 2:00 AM CST
Water Manager Told Off for Peeing in Reservoir
This reservoir in the Hetch Hetchy system doesn't hold any of Martin Sanchez's urine, officials say.   (Inkelin/Wikipedia)

A San Francisco water manager who couldn't manage to keep his urine out of the system supplying the city's water will probably be suspended without pay for up to five days, officials say. Martin Sanchez, a $111,000-a-year maintenance planner, was reported for peeing in a reservoir that provides water for 2.6 million people in the San Francisco Bay Area. A San Francisco Public Utilities Commission spokesman says the reservoir was "completely drained" at the time, although sources tell the San Francisco Chronicle that employees reported seeing Sanchez pee in the reservoir several times—including on a day that he learned he would be promoted.

But while the utilities spokesman says Sanchez's behavior was "completely unacceptable," he says there was never any hint of a public health risk: Even if the reservoir had been in use, the water would have been disinfected long before it reached customers, CNN reports. The spokesman says that for Sanchez, the message is "very clear, even after this disciplinary action—zip it up or you're going to get shipped out." And he has a message for other reservoir workers: "Come to work wearing your big-boy pants or diapers. If not, you'll need to find another place to work." (More reservoirs stories.)

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