mick silver
10th August 2011, 04:40 PM
http://www.scrapmonster.com/news/dealing-with-drought-by-recycling-urine/1/2810 ...
TEXAS (Scrap Monster): One Texas town is coping with the drought with a trick NASA uses – recycling urine.
Not only is it exceptionally hot in the Lone Star State, but it’s also exceptionally dry. Big Spring in West Texas, home to about 27,000 residents, is recycling treated wastewater, according to Discovery News.
“When you talk about toilet-to-(water) tank it makes a lot of people nervous and grossed out,” says Terri Telchik, who works in the city manager’s office.
“We’re taking treated effluent (wastewater), normally discharged into a creek, and blending it with (traditionally supplied potable) water,” district manager John Grant told Discovery News.
While the region would normally get 7 inches of rain during this time of year, less than 0.1 inches of rain has fallen.
And what are you going to do in outer space where it doesn’t rain? Recycle.
The toilet aboard the U.S. segment of the International Space Station includes a tank that collects and filters urine, the first step in an arduous and well-monitored process to recover water in urine for drinking, cooking, cleaning and other uses.
Though Southeast Texas is still under normal rainfall numbers, the area is considered lucky based on the state’s drought map, where Jefferson County remains green in a state of red.
TEXAS (Scrap Monster): One Texas town is coping with the drought with a trick NASA uses – recycling urine.
Not only is it exceptionally hot in the Lone Star State, but it’s also exceptionally dry. Big Spring in West Texas, home to about 27,000 residents, is recycling treated wastewater, according to Discovery News.
“When you talk about toilet-to-(water) tank it makes a lot of people nervous and grossed out,” says Terri Telchik, who works in the city manager’s office.
“We’re taking treated effluent (wastewater), normally discharged into a creek, and blending it with (traditionally supplied potable) water,” district manager John Grant told Discovery News.
While the region would normally get 7 inches of rain during this time of year, less than 0.1 inches of rain has fallen.
And what are you going to do in outer space where it doesn’t rain? Recycle.
The toilet aboard the U.S. segment of the International Space Station includes a tank that collects and filters urine, the first step in an arduous and well-monitored process to recover water in urine for drinking, cooking, cleaning and other uses.
Though Southeast Texas is still under normal rainfall numbers, the area is considered lucky based on the state’s drought map, where Jefferson County remains green in a state of red.