Turning sewage into…Drinking water?
Photo by ppdigital on morgueFile
Faced with a dwindling water supply, a West Texas town has started construction on a $13 million plant to reclaim water from sewage. An Associated Press story in The Washington Post says, “the new system could actually improve the taste of the region’s water by removing the minerals and salt that give it a distinctive briny flavor.”
Here’s how it works:
The wastewater recycling process is long and complex. The first steps remove salt and impurities such as viruses and even traces of medicine. Then the wastewater is channeled into a lake or reservoir, where it’s blended with fresh water and eventually gets pumped into a water-treatment facility. There, it undergoes several more rounds of cleaning, disinfection and testing before finally reaching home faucets.