From the November 2011 issue; published online October 28, 2011
http://discovermagazine.com/2011/nov/06-americans-ready-drinking-toilet-water?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DiscoverMag+%28Discover+Magazine%29&utm_content=Google+Reader
More people are now drinking treated toilet water which was tested to be clean and safe.
Summary: As Southwest Americans are in the one of the worst droughts, some communties are extracting drinking water from urine and other liquid waste. A small Texas city of Big Spring is the latest to take the risk. They announced that late next year they will begin adding 2 million gallons of recycled water daily to their drinking supply. People should know that the filtration process makes recycled wastewater as safe to drink as tap water. If toilet water is as safe as tap water, then why havent more communities bought it? Money is a problem because it is very expensive to operate the filtration process with toilet water. Another problem is just what people think about it. People hear toilet water and they automatically don't want it, but they don't know that it's as safe as tap water.
Opinion/Reflection: I think this is very interesting. I didn't know that wastewater could be cleaned completely to be used as drinking water. I'm surprised that communities have started to use toilet water as their daily drinking supply and that people have agreed to drink it. I think that it is smart for the Southwest Americans to use it since they are in major drought. Personally, I would rather just drink tap or bottled water rather than toilet water even if it has been filtered. If the only thing to drink was the filtered toilet water, then I would drink it after I now know that it is as safe as tap water.
Questions:
1. Would you rather drink tap water over the filtered toilet water even if they are both the same amount of safeness and cleanness?
2 Do you think it is gross that communties are using the filtered toilet water as their drinking supply? Why?
3. If the filtered toilet water is expensive to use, then why do you think the communities are using more of it over tap water when they are in drought?
REFLECTION/OPINION: When I first looked at this title I was a little grossed out. I did not understand what it meant and judged it right away. As I read on I understood, but am still a little confused. It is amazing how there are filtration systems that could make toilet water as safe to drink as tap water. This is very useful in the future to places whith droughts and I think it is great that they figured this out. I am surprised they have not started this already but I can understand that some people may automatically say no just because it does not sound appealing.Honestly I would probably be grossed out too but would get used to it after a while. I agree with Julia that I would way rather use tap or bottled water since our area has enough supply.
ReplyDeleteANSWER TO Q'S: 1)I would rather drink tap water just because of how appealing it sounds but would change to toilet water if there were such circumstances.
2)I do not think that it is gross that communities are using toilet water, I just think it is out of the ordinary. They have a reason to drink that water because they are low on this primary need.
3) I think that at a time of drought tap water may not come out of the sinks or such places as easily and in large sums as much as toilet water.
QUESTIONS: 1)What makes cleaning toilet water so expensive?
2)How do you think the community came up with the idea of using toilet water in a time of need/drought?
3)What other reasons than some listed above do you think people have not discovered this solution earlier?
Opinion/Reflection: After reading the title of this article, I was a little skeptical and thought it would be gross. But after I read the summary, I realized that it is actually smart. I think it is very smart of the Southwest Americans to use the filtered toilet water as drinking water because of the drought. Personally and honestly, drinking filtered toilet water would be my last resort because it does sound a little gross and I would rather drink bottled or tap water, as Julia said. But it is a great idea if we ever did run low or out of tap and bottled water.
ReplyDeleteAnswers to Questions:
1. I would rather drink tap water, even though it has the same amount of contaminates, because of the fact that it is toilet water isn't that appealing to my taste.
2. No, because if they are low on their water supply and if the water is as safe as tap water then I think it is actually a smart idea.
3. I think communities are using wastewater instead of tap water because they might be running really low on tap water and they have a larger supply of the waste water.
Questions:
1. What would happen if the waste water ran out?
2. Why is filtering the waste water so expensive?
O/R: I always ask myself this! When you flush the toilet, doesn't it just go the same place as the extra water from your sink? I've also heard that the water in your toilet before you go to the bathroom is just as clean as tap water, so this doesn't suprise me too much. I will agree though that it doesn't sound appealing, but I would drink it if I had to because it is clean and they can't supply unfiltered water. The towns/communities using this method could also not specify/announce where they get the water from when they use the tiolet water.
ReplyDeleteAnswer to Questions:
1) I would rather drink tap water because it just sounds more appealing, even if it is the same cleanliness. The toilet water could be even cleaner becuase they have to treat it/monitor it so well.
2) At first it sounds gross, but water is water and it is obviously clean so it's not like they are drinking directly from a toilet.
3) I think it is good to have for the towns in drought so they don't have to use their water so sparingly. In Julia's article it also said that one town was adding 2 MILLION gallons of water to their water supply, which is A LOT of water.
Questions:
1)How much more is it to clean the tiolet water?
2)Why is it so much more expensive? Is it really worth it?
3)Can/should they prove to people it is just as clean? Should the townspeople just trust them?
Opinion/Reflection: I think this is a great idea for poeple in a tough situation like the southwest Americans in a drought. I personaly wouldn't drink toilet water just because of the fact that is where we get rid of wastes. If it was spot on clean, I would drink it if I was in a scenario like that. After all the water in our toilets is the same water as our tap. The fact that toilet water is being drank just creeps me out be under certain cirsumstances, I would too.
ReplyDeleteAnswer to questions:
1)I would rether drink tap water because it sounds way more appealing that toilet water.
2)At first yes but under those circumstances those people are in I would say no.
3)The town would save a lot of water because the water lines are different and the townspeople probably think they are two completly different types of water.
New Questions:
1)Under what circumstances would you drink toilet water?
2)Do you think toilet water is as safe to drink as tap?
3)When and if a drought occurs, would you willingly use up bottled and tap water or drink toilet water?