From Toilet to Tap: Raw Sewage Gets Turned Into Drinking Water in California

In an Orange County, California , wastewater facility, 130 million gallons of potable water that would normally drain into the Pacific Ocean are purified in a three-step process each day.

John Kennedy, the general manager of Orange County Water District, tells CBS News, “we can turn raw sewage into drinking water in 24 hours.”

When you flush the toilet, you probably hope to never see the contents again, especially in a glass of drinking water, but Orange County Water District is touting the benefits of the toilet to tap.

“When you flush your toilet, you take a shower, you clean your clothes, wash the dishes, you're generating wastewater or sewage,” Kennedy said.

It starts with microfiltration, then reverse osmosis, and finally ultraviolet light. That purified water is added to the contents of the county's underground water basin where it waits to flow out of someone's tap.

In drought-prone areas like Southern California, officials say they had to tap into technology to meet the needs of residents.

“There's no new water. There is no new water. What used to be toilet to tap is now a highly technically, highly treated source of water supply that exceeds every standard and has no health risk whatsoever,” Kennedy said.

Several American cities are recycling wastewater, but California and Colorado are the only states that have approved this process for its residents.

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