Pissing and Moaning

With the current space program at an end, it is interesting to examine one of the purported hardships endured by astronauts posted to long stays hovering in geosynchronous orbit above earth. Recycling is a polite word for scrubbing human waste for water and absorbing CO₂ out of the air, but it also carries the seemingly unsavory practice of effectively having space travelers drinking extracts from their own urine. And while astronauts are hardly the Hindu holy men in search of purification through a more direct practice, they are clearly the victims of the complexity of their supply lines.

ScienceDaily.com (Nov. 14, 2008) analyzes the pragmatics this way: “Two hundred and fifty miles above the Earth puts you a long way from the nearest kitchen tap. And at $15,000 a pint, the cost of shipping fresh water aboard the space shuttle is, well, astronomical… So astronauts on the International Space Station have to recapture every possible drop. That includes water evaporated from showers, shaving, tooth brushing and hand washing, plus perspiration and water vapor that collects within the astronauts' space suits. They even transfer water from the fuel cells that provide electric power to the space shuttle…

“[U]rine undergoes an initial distillation process and then joins the rest of the recovered fluids in the water processor. The processor filters out solids such as hair and lint and then sends the wastewater through a series of multifiltration beds, in which contaminants are removed through adsorption and ion exchange… ‘What's left over in the water are a few non adsorbing organics and solvents, like nail polish remover, and they go into a reactor that breaks them all down to carbon dioxide, water and a few ions,’ said [David] Hand, a professor of civil and environmental engineering… After a final check for microbes, the water is again clean and ready to drink.” Mmmm… mmm… where do I get me some o’ dat? Gotta beat bottled water, right… clean and pure?

The fact is all water is recycled from somewhere. Nature does it to a certain extent by evaporating water out of all kinds of nasty places and bringing it back as rain, which in turn replenishes rivers, streams, lakes and oceans. Or you can travel to Texas, where sustained periods of drought have elevated recycling to a new level: “Residents of Big Spring, Texas may not have a choice [about drinking water once contained in sewage] -- the local water district is breaking ground this year on a $13 million treatment plant that will direct 2 million gallons per day of thoroughly-cleaned sewage back into the regular water system. It's a practical solution for a drought-stricken state that is hunting for water wherever it can.

“It's not as if wastewater recycling is a new idea. Texas has, in fact, used reclaimed water for over a century. But generally, the recycled water doesn't go to the tap; it's used in parks, golf courses, outdoor fountains, and more. The state has plenty of indirect sewage recycling plants--one of the newer plants filters wastewater through a wetland before sending it out to the facilities that want this so-called ‘raw water.’” FastCompany.com, August 8^th.

And as for those Americans who are chortling at the seeming comeuppance for Texas arrogance, let me remind all of us that this form of recycling is definitely in most Americans’ future, particularly in cities and states prone to drought. Like my home region of Southern California: “Los Angeles, another drought-prone city, is working on a similar system--a $700 million plan to purify up to 30,000 acre-feet of treated wastewater each year, or 5% of the city's annual water use. Orange County already has a ‘toilet to tap’ system in place, and Singapore actually sells bottled water that comes from its treated wastewater plants. Delicious.” FastCompany. Reaching for that bottle of Chrystal Geezer, are you?

I’m Peter Dekom, and I have to admit that an afternoon “pee and crumpets” hardly sounds appetizing.