Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Drought-Stricken Texas Town to Recycle Urine

Desperate Times, Desperate Measures
By: Megan Gibson

We all know that recycling is a good thing. But recycling sewage water?


According to Discovery News, the drought in Texas has gotten so desperate that the town of Big Spring is considering recycling toilet water for its 27,000 residents.While it sounds unusual (and more than a little gross) it's not that uncommon. NASA for example, has a system where they filter urine directly to salvage water. 


However, the process in Texas would work a little differently than NASA's system. "We're taking treated effluent (wastewater), normally discharged into a creek, and blending it with (traditionally supplied potable) water," Big Spring's district manager, John Gran, told Discovery.

Which might not be enough to reassure the squeamish, but with less than 0.1 inches of rain in the region for months, you do what you have to do.

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