The scene starts with the protagonist pouring a container of spent fluid into a special device that, with only a few pumps, provides him with a fresh cup of drinkable water.
This opening scene to the movie Water World could be the way wastewater is treated in the near future. According to news coverage of the California drought, communities within the state have begun to expand their “toilet to tap” water recycling programs.
While their use of the recycled water will not be for human or animal consumption, by using it to water plants or in industrial applications, potable water usage would be reduced.
The thought of drinking recently expelled water may induce resistance to employing such a method of recycling, with good reason. Water expelled from any of the local wastewater treatment plants could be consumed if need be, but it’s not recommended.
Our planet is covered by a large amount of water, but only a small portion of it is potable, or safe to drink.
Most of the water consumed in Pearl River County comes from underground aquifers. In some aquifers, that water is replenished by rainfall or water bodies where the liquid permeates the ground.
In areas such as ours with a good number of wells, we rely on both the natural and artificial methods that produce potable water.
If, for whatever reason, those methods fail or become unavailable due to drought or some other occurrence beyond human control, we would be forced to come up with a way to create drinkable water from other sources.
There are many ways it could be achieved, such as Orange County’s method of treating the wastewater to near potable standards before pumping it into groundwater basins that will take care of the rest of the process.
There’s been a lot of concern as to how drinkable water will be available in the future as populations rise, but human ingenuity will prevail.