After pulling the bullet and dumping the powder could you put a little water in the cartridge to wet the primer to "de-activate" it before depriming the case?

I've got a coffee can full of live rounds I've found at the range and would like to recycle the brass. I pick them up because I think it's dangerous, particularly for the grass-mowers. Understandably, scrap metal dealers don't like to recycle brass with live primers (or powder, or bullets!).