Feces from birds are a source of coliform bacteria, viruses, and human pathogens, including vibrio cholera, Salmonella, Mycobacteria, Typhoid, Giardia and Cryptosporidium
In early April a teenager urinated into one of Portland's water reservoirs. Admittedly, this is a dumb, irritating thing to do. But as Laura Helmuth points out, in one of the most spectacularly stupid decisions in years, the city is going to drain the 38 million gallon reservoir. The most unbelievably stupid decision in about three years anyway--if this sounds familiar, that's because Portland did the same thing in 2011, when they emptied 7.5 million gallons from the same reservoir for the same reason. (1)