People in Texas are Drinking Recycled Pee Water Because of a Drought.

[link to www.treehugger.com]

I wouldn't want to live in West Texas right now. Why? Because the Colorado River Municipal Water District, which supplies water to the region, is recycling wastewater (aka pisswater) into tap water. Recycle, reduce, reuse...it never sounded so gross.

I'm sure it's healthy and safe and clean and all that. Hell, the Colorado River Municipal Water District even spent $13 million on a new plant that runs the urine and whatever gnarly stuff is in wastewater through microfilters, reverse osmosis, peroxide, UV light and any foolproof method you can think of. When you're dealing with pee, it pays to be extra careful. Also, the h2o is totally up to drinking water regulations but...could you imagine? You're drinking pee man!

The new pee water will only affect about 27,000 people in Texas and is only happening because the western region has only received 0.1 inches of rain in the past few months (they're supposed to get at least 7 inches). Other cities have experimented or are planning similar systems (LA, my hometown, has a possible $700 million system in the works for example) that would probably do wonders for maintaining the dropping water supply. But seriously, if a city does use peewater as tap water, I'd just rather not know. Ignorance is bliss, you know? [Discovery]