Slashdot Mirror
Drought-Stricken Texas Town Taps Urine For Water
An anonymous reader writes "Texas is in the midst of a drought so severe that local water management teams have decided to distribute reclaimed wastewater (aka urine). The Colorado River Municipal Water District in West Texas has broken ground on a $13 million plant that will capture treated wastewater and ready it for redistribution. After being run through microfilters and undergoing reverse osmosis, slimy sewage is cleansed with peroxide and ultraviolet light. This intense process ensures that any pharmaceuticals and carcinogens are removed, and that the H2O stands up to drinking water regulations."
No arsenic in there?
Does it the water burn when it gets out the tap?
If none of the above, it ain't real US tap water.
Bear Grylls is happy to have this first post and taste!
...then you're drinking filtered sewage anyway.
Not news.
--
BMO
This sounds logical but I would only drink this water if this process can really get the asparagus smell out of the urine. Have you noticed how nasty that is?
I assume this is similar to recycling systems used for space missions? Don't they also recycle waste for H20?
By stupid editors to make readers more stupid.
More and more slashdot slides into useless media territory.
we should do this everywhere. if it gets filtered through lakes, rivers, the ground etc. all water is "reclaimed."
About bloody time that some city in the US starts doing this. Did you know that the outflow from the Los Angeles sewage treatment plant is actually cleaner than the water that they pump (at ridiculous cost) over the mountains to the potable water intake?
The capital of Botswana has been doing this since the 1960s. Nice to know that Texas is finally catching up to sub-Saharan Africa.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
Like your drinking water isn't already the toilet for fish, birds, and god-knows what other wildlife. Get over yourself, Sally.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
That it's being considered really shows how bad the drought situation in Texas is. I'm sure the quality of the water will be fine, but for people to mentally get over the stigma requires some serious problem that needs to be addressed. Pretty much the whole state is "hell" and relief does not seem anywhere in the distant future: http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/expert_assessment/seasonal_drought.html
See! Were having to drink our own piss. Do you really want Rick Peery for president?!?
Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
Dude... astronauts drink their own pee. The people of texas can, too!
www.awkwardengineer.com
I know it's probably nothing too far from what we get now anyway, but still, I threw up in my mouth a little...
It's amazing to me that this type of thing only gets implemented due to a crisis when it should be obvious from the get go that developing and improving the methods of recycling and reclamation should always be part of the way we do anything.
If they aren't, I will!
Drinking wastewater makes as much sense as watering your lawn with potable water.
I would be pissed.
...and, yes, I'd wear John Wayne Gacy's sweater, if it were clean, I needed a sweater, and it at-least-sorta fit.
This is definitely "stuff that matters" especially for the people in the affected regions.
Colorless green Cthulhu waits dreaming furiously.
If it's good enough for Bear, it's good enough for anyone.
So...when do we start eating raw snakes?
Urine? Well, yes, but also the feces and the nasty water from industry. As someone has pointed out already, if your WTP collects from the river, you are already drinking treated sewage water.
/lab intern at a WWTP
At our plant, we have a water reclamation facility at the end of our process, the same type of facility used at the water treatment plant upstream. A WRF is common, iirc, in CA, but is, afaik, the first of its kind here in MN. It is far more common to discharge without the additional filtering and contaminant removal provided by a WRF.
The water we discharge is tested biweekly for ammonia and phosphorus and daily for total coliforms and biological oxygen demand. Ammonia and coliforms are non-detectable ~99% of the time. We are doing a very good job turning sewage into drinking water for the next town on the river.
When I was a kid, I used to think Milk was cow piss and I loved drinking milk. So, for me, I just don't see what the fuss is all about.
And in Portland, they drain an entire reservoir after one guy takes a leak
http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2011/06/16/Reservoir-drained-due-to-urine/UPI-10781308249177/
Have a Day!
They've been recycling piss in the US for years, usually under the name Budweiser...
Huh? You Americans don't clean/recycle/process your waste water?
You just dump your untreated wastewater into the local river, or what?
People want the end product, but no one wants to know how it's made. True in many contexts.
In debates about Christianity, there are two groups: those looking for answers, and those looking to just ask questions.
... this should be done everywhere, not just drought stricken Texas. Water is a precious commodity that needs to be preserved, if we can recycle waste water and reduce the amount taken directly in nature with no adverse effects to us, go for it.
~Syberz
I have family that lives in Big Spring, Texas and I have been there recently. Their tap water currently has left over crude oil leftovers which leaves it oily, smelly and very undrinkable. Having them build this plant is very wary considering the situation. In either case, it sucks.. no one wants to drink the water.. and no matter the situation.. the town is still getting the short end of a stick.
I think you're looking into the wrong end of the water pipe, AC. Some developing countries jumped right from "few telephones" right to widespread cellular technology, leaping right over the Age of Copper. Filtering water to an objectively clean standard is a smart idea. (I might also invite you Texas readers to come to Pennsylvania, where water is plentiful.)
not even frosty...
South Africa, being a dry country, has been doing this for years. All sewage gets sent to treatment farms, where it is cleaned, and the water from it are then placed back in the river systems from where it is used for irrigation, drinking water and everything else - just like rain water.
South Africa also boasts that the water from the treatment plants are cleaner than rain water. My father is an electrical engineer and helped design one of the plants (the electrical systems obviously). The process is quite spectacular - and moreso than what is described here. For starters the first phase includes the sewage being cleaned by specially cultured bacteria to break it down, before chemical cleaning, filtering etc. step by step turns it back into pure H20.
The two main waste products from the process is methane and solid waste. The solid waste is used to create fertilizers. The methane is burned off (being a clean-burning gas) but quite a few people here have converted their cars to run on methane (any gasoline car can be converted) and fill up there - for the moment at least (since the demand is pretty low and they have massive amounts they need to get rid off) the sewage treatment farms don't even charge them. Fill up the car, no cost.
Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
If they just broke ground on it recently, I'm curious to know if it is supposed to be ready before, say, winter.
Of course, being Texas they don't really have winter. Temperatures probably go from "Jesus Christ on roller-skates it's unbearably hot!" to "hey, my face is no longer melting off, but it is still miserably hot!".
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
"West Texas....URINE for a surprise!"
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Governor Goodhair initiated a three-day prayer for rain back in April. Rain is on the way. You guys just need to have faith.
Arizona has been doing this for a long time. For the most part, the water treatment is less intense and it is distributed through a separate, non-potable system to be used for irrigation. Makes sense since it is cheaper (requires less filtration). However some of it is filtered further, and mixed in with water from wells and the CAP to go in to the drinking water.
you mean water, like in the toilet?
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Yawn.. here in Orange County, we've been doing this for over 3 years, because we're getting tired of people from up north bitching about us stealing their water. The plant they constructed near my house pumps out 80 mllion gallons of reclaimed water per day. Anybody who claims they can tell it used to be wastewater is insane.
http://www.slashfood.com/2008/08/13/orange-county-produces-the-worlds-most-recycled-water/
I just found the box to change my sig. Um.... [timeless witticism].
We moved from the gulf coast of Texas (thats enuf hurricanes) to the Hill Country (central) trying to do homesteading and..dont laugh..rainwater collection... 2 years ago. We had grand ideas about farming and becoming self sufficient. In two years here we have had maybe 5-6 inches of rain total and been under burn bans for all but a few months because of the drought. Local cities are under stage 4 restrictions and it is so bad that wild deer are dying on the hoof from nothing to eat and all the vegetation being dead.
We still have the grand ideas, but at the beginning of next month we are moving the plan to Missouri..where it actually rains.
Go read "The Big Thirst", it'll help change how you think about water. If there is one thing we have a weird relationship with, it's water. As a Russian friend used to say, "One does not buy beer, one only rents it." (Nearly?) Every drop of water has been through some biological process in earth's life span -- possibly even the span proposed by the Young Earthers. What's really sad is the expense of cleaning up water to recycle it rather than using the massive evaporative power of the sun; historically that's worked pretty well except for the detail of unequal coverage.
You cannot pee into a Mr. Coffee and get Taster's Choice!
Read more: article source
the prayers to allmighty Jesus have gone unanswered.
Appeals to science and reason have however once again been thoughtfully and promptly answered.
Good people go to bed earlier.
Chanute, KS was the first in the US, from October 14th 1956 to March 14th, 1957. The water met microbial standards of the time, but was discontinued as soon as possible due to public acceptance.
Windhoek, the capital of the Republic of Namibia (Sahara desert) recycles about 30% of their water to supply a population of 300,000 residents. They started in 1968.
Not common, but far from a new idea.
for me to drink my own urine? NO! But I like the taste.
Ain't that a pisser?
Hasn't rained in a while, better drink my own piss.
Wish you hadn't wasted all that water on stupid grass in the desert now that you have to drink your own piss?
In other news, Bear Grylls is moving to Texas.
This is old news, Texas has been recycling piss for years and bottling it as Lone Star and Pearl beer.
main(){char*c="main(){char*c=%c%s%c;printf(c,34,c
Step 1: Recycle human waste into drinkable water.
Step 2: Privatize the water recycling business.
Step 3: Because human waste is now a commodity, pass laws forbidding anyone to pee anywhere but in a restroom with an approved capture facility.
Step 4: Charge people for entry into the restrooms.
Step 5: Profit!
Congratulations, you've started down the road to Urinetown!
"Those who made dough from debasing / Need erasing, need the knife / Let their blood flow like Campari, / We're not sorry - Hey that's life!
They're not sorry! I'm not sorry! No one's sorry, no one's sorry, 'til they get to Urinetown!"
Genocide Man -- Life is funny. Death is funnier. Mass murder can be hilarious.
As far as they're concerned, the world of science is part of a vast international communist conspiracy to make everyone think the world is round. The crisis is the only thing they'll accept as proof that they needed to do this.
It seems that given the mess he made in this country, it would be an appropriate honor.
That will be the biggest obstacle; very (and varying) complicated chemistry and as far as I can tell it doesn't have any End of Life requirements placed upon it, even though the environmental impacts are already being seen. Perhaps it is time for Big Pharma to kick in a few sheckels to help out with the clean ups, especially for potable water intake - without us asking our doctors to be sure.
As anyone in a waste water plant could probably tell you, only a small amount of water that goes through sewage actually comes from your toilet. The vast majority likely comes from your shower, tub, sink, dishes, watering you lawn, washing your car, rain water, etc... You don't think they maintain a special pipe for urine right?
For example, if you read about some religious sect in India that believes God wants people to drink their own urine, you don't say to yourself, "Isn't it amazing, the diversity of belief systems man has developed in his never-ending quest to understand and cope with the intricate moral dilemmas posed by a complex and uncertain world?" No, what you say to yourself is, "These people have the brains of a trout."
Meanwhile, over in India, the sect members are getting a major chuckle over the fact that some American basketball players cross themselves before they take foul shots. "As if God cares about foul shots!" the sect members howl, tears streaming down their faces. "Say, is this my urine or yours?"
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
There is this great invention called "trees". Apparently when you plant them they can retain moisture in the soil. That makes the vegetation around need less water, it prevents from flooding and they actually pull moisture out of thin air! If you use trees instead of concrete you will be able to use the trees to reduce the temperature in the hot summer days. They even take some of the road-dust out of the air. You can even talk about firewood from the trees. Not much, but it's free.
Imagine a town that banned lawns and insisted all should have trees!
If this takes off, then a tall glass of urine-derived water could wash down the Shitburger. The relative quality of food will be so high that it'll put McDonald's out of business.
Many big cities around the world recycle sewage and all cities on rivers pass their piss on down stream to the next city. So unless you are living in a place like Lake Louise, you are drinking someone else's somewhat diluted piss every day. However, it is not usually advertised, since most people just do not want to be reminded of it.
Where's the "frosty piss" guy when you need him?
I heard that too as an anecdote, and from a Londoner, but if anybody considers it "good tasting" then they've never in their life drunk normal tap water.
London tap water is chlorinated a lot (not as bad as Florence though) and you'll breathe out the chlorine vapour after you've brushed your teeth with it. Yuk.
I understand they can't be choosy, but still... aren't there always a lot of floods in Britain because it rains so much? May be a better idea to make an overflow lake somewhere in flood zone land (Norwich?) and pipe it to London to dilute/improve the taste of their chlorinated "I can't believe it's not water". Can any Brit tell us why they haven't already done this.
To be, or not to be: isn't that quite logical, Slashdot Beta?
...all the stuff from which our drinking water's molecules are made has lived through the lifecycles of at least 2 or 3 stars. Compared to this, any biochemistry happening only to the outer electron shell is next to unimportant. Therefore, it makes sense to only care about the current state of the water discussed right when using or drinking it.
I don't work in wastewater treatment, I am just aware of the existence and general development/deployment since they send all water customers a newsletter about it and I actually read that newsletter.
Texas, where its better to be glass half empty.
Anything that's gone through that many kidneys must be clean.
The city of St. Louis has been doing this for several decades now, putting it in cans, and shipping it out to the rest of the world under the brand name, "Budweiser",. . .
At first, this sounds like a good idea, but there HAS to be more to this story (the fact that the article is so short suggests that the author really didn't do any research into the whole process). First: somewhere along the line, they will likely chlorinate in order to maintain a clean line of distribution. Chlorination produces THMS and HAAs (trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids) both of which are carcinogenic and readily absorbed into the body via imbibing, inhalation, and dermal absorption (THMS enter the body through the skin during bathing / washing). These disinfectant byproducts are carcinogenic and can cause neurological problems and both can combine in the body to achieve further synergistic affects the likes of which we are only beginning to understand.
I do not wish to alarm any one, but my research suggests that ordinary citizens are not aware of the real dangers found in conventional water / wastewater treatment. If this town is indeed recycling waste water then it is highly likely that chlorination is involved at some point. It's a shame the article doesn't contain solid information about the real issue. Human waste contains E. coli and that is the main reason we chlorinate throughout much of the western world. Please look into getting a carbon filter for your drinking water (brita or otherwise) and if you have the means ($) outfit your home with a block carbon filter to ensure that your family is not exposed to these very subtle yet extremely dangerous byproducts of water treatment.
The fuckwi-- I mean Redditors over at www.reddit.com have made a MAJOR meme of "_____ -- Better drink my own piss". By analyzing the posts here carefully, one could divine quite precisely the amount of overlap between here and that God-forsaken place!
If things get worse, will the town's inhabitants start wearing stillsuits?
How do they filter all the drugs out? Will the water just get more saturated?
The city of Costa Mesa has had this kind of system for years. Cleaned and filtered wastewater is pumped back into the ground near the ocean for form a salt water incursion barrier. Elsewhere the water is pumped up via wells, filtered for clarity and ozone treated before being introduced to the general water supply.
http://www.mesawater.org/
So, proletarians will drink urine and the bourgeoisie will drink fresh water... when will we abolish the class society?
"distribute reclaimed wastewater (aka urine)."
reclaimed water != urine !!!
Yeah it might contain traces of urine... but the summary makes it sound like they are using 100% piss to begin with.
"Is it necessary for me to drink my own urine? No! But I do it anyway, cause it's sterile and I like the taste."
Patches O'Houlihan
"No fear. No envy. No meanness." Liam Clancy
Astronauts do it, why cant cowboys?
- d
most of the waste water is not urine. it's also laundry water, gallons of clean water used to flush your several ounces of urine away, and the water you have showered it. As it has been said, if your town draws water from a river, you get this anyway. Split your water system into clean and grey water and you get less of a problem. You don't need drinking grade water for many industrial processes or watering parks and gardens. Plan ahead and wake up to the fact that people are using more water than some areas of the world can provide.
There was an unknown error in the submission.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urinetown
It's the oldest story -
Masses are oppressed
Faces, clothes and bladders
All distressed
Rich folks get the good life
Poor folks get the woe
In the end
It's nothing you don't know
You're at Urinetown!
Your ticket should say Urinetown!
No refunds, this is Urinetown!
We'll keep that dough!
_____________________________________________________
It's a privilege to pee
I run the only toilet
In this part of town, you see
So, if you've got to go
You've got to go through me
It's a privilege to pee
Water's worth its weight
In gold these days
No more bathrooms
Like in olden days
You come here and pay a fee
For the privilege to pee
HIghly recommended if any high school or community group is doing this in your area
-I'm just sayin'
How do they plan to filter out the drugs from urine that bacteria can not digest ??
The story through the link is basically saying that, if the town drinks piss, they won't have to conserve as much. All hail Texas and the American way.
Wasn't there another story about this just last week?
In another area, that is..
Shouldn't that start making this _not_ news?
Yes most things can be eliminated with this process, but if you are only treating urine in water, but people throw out all sorts of sh*t in those sewers, paint, thinner, oil, medicine, etc...etc....
I would not touch this with a 10 foot pole, how about just moving to another town with more water?
Peroxide and UV light are both extremely toxic and teratogenic artificial chemicals, and I insist on my little bunnykins (Jocasta and Aquapodes) not being exposed to anything but natural organic materials. Like Vibrio Cholerae and Salmonella typhi. As pure as nature intended.
Now that you've upset me, I'm going to have to take the little darlings to the beach to recover from the shock with some nice healthy sea breeezes and some sunbathing.
You dirty scientists trying to destroy the safety of the natural world with your dangerous chemicals.
Dr Bob was right - always listen to your chiroproctologist on matters of bacteriology. And nuclear physics. Dr Bob knows his shit.
This post may contain sarcasm. Read with care.
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
The truth about what conservatives really mean by the "trickle-down theory" is finally revealed - in Texas! Isn't that where they invented voodoo economics?
The water in Orange County Ca is one of the most technologically advanced in the world. I turns sewer water into 70 million gallons of drinking water per day. Part of the treatment process is they have to put minerals back in the water because it will pull the minerals out of the concrete pipes and they will crumble. In LA its not the water as much as the pipes it travels through. Many of the old homes still have galvanized pipes which aren't healthy. The infrastructure is falling apart and no one wants to pay for it. When the minimally treated water gets dumped in the ocean, no body cares until it washes up on shore. There are many things we can do for our selves to better our lives and help stay healthy, but people want the government to do everything, just look how great of a job they are doing. I am done now!!!
Best part about living in Colorado is knowing that Texas and California are down stream each and every time you flush.