Transforming wastewater directly into drinking water might sound 'yucky,' but experts say it could work well

A wastewater purification system.
(Photo by Matt Vasilogambros, Stateline)

Toilet water repurposed as drinking water has one major challenge -- the 'yuck' factor. "After an Orange County resident flushes her toilet, the water flows through the Southern California community's sewer system, meanders its way to the sanitation plant, has its solids removed, is piped to a wastewater recycling facility next door and undergoes three different purification processes until it is clean enough to drink," report Matt Vasilogambros and Kevin Hardy of Stateline. After some sips from the sampling station, Mehul Patel, executive director of operations for the Orange County Water District's project, told Stateline, "It tastes like water. . . . It's just like any other water, but it's gone through a lot. People shouldn't judge where it came from, but where it is now."

Patel's sanitized water is not being sent as drinking water to any customers. "No large community in the U.S. is taking water from toilets and transforming it directly into clean drinking water right now," Vasilogambros and Hardy explain. "But the demonstration might offer a glimpse of the future, as states and communities across the country design new plants that will do just that, giving communities more control over their water supply as the climate gets drier. . . . And officials face some pushback from skeptics concerned about the high costs of advanced purification systems and from a public not used to the idea of drinking what was once their own waste."

The town of Castle Rock, Colorado, which lies east of the Rocky Mountains, has been using the technology and is on a path to sending it to consumers. "Directly recycling wastewater into drinking water will eventually allow residents to hold onto more of their precious water supply. . . . The town will be able to recycle its municipal water over and over at a water treatment plant that was upgraded in 2021," Stateline reports. "While the plant already has the capability, it's not sending treated wastewater directly to customers yet; it will likely take three to five years to meet new regulations on potable reuse announced by the state in January. The rules include a full year of water quality monitoring and a community awareness campaign before implementation."

In parched Kansas, the idea may take a while to gain traction. Jason Solomon, a technical assistant at the Kansas Rural Water Association, thinks "direct wastewater recycling is likely a ways off in Kansas given its stigma and costs," Stateline reports. "But [he thinks] it's an idea worth considering with recent droughts threatening drinking water supplies even in the traditionally wettest part of the state." He said, "Why don't we just take it directly from the wastewater plant? Why would we put it back in the river? It's going to get dirtier in the river."