Toilet water is the water that we drain out or flush out from our toilets and bathrooms daily.
New Delhi: Life cannot be imagined without water, and it is not possible to survive without water. It is the most precious drink granted by Mother Nature to us. As we made progresses and became industrialised, the access to clean, drinking water became difficult as the rivers and other water bodies became contaminated with the toxic waste of various industries. Adding to it is natural phenomenon like drought.
Now, we have devised several ways by which we can use “unclean, contaminated, and unhygienic” water to quench our thirst. Desalination and water treatment are two main methods.
Desalination is a process that removes mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination is the removal of salts and minerals from a substance. Water treatment is used for cleaning and removing all harmful particles from the water collected from sources like sewers and toilets.
Toilet water is the water that we drain out or flush out from our toilets and bathrooms daily. Whether it is the water we have used for bathing and cleaning ourselves or the water that we flush from the cistern. This water contains our body wastes.
Let us know about how the dirty toilet water and water from other sources is made fit for drinking.
The procedure is known as “From toilet to tap”. It turns wastewater into drinking water thus addresses water scarcity caused by climate change and population growth.
How it works
Wastewater from toilets, sinks, showers, and clothes washers flows into a sewer line. The wastewater is treated at a municipal water treatment plant.
The wastewater is treated using a series of processes, including:
Microfiltration: Removes solids, bacteria, and protozoa
Reverse osmosis: Removes viruses, salts, and bits of medicines
Ultraviolet disinfection: Kills bacteria in the water
Membrane biological reactor (MBR): Separates large pollutants
Benefits
Drought resistance: Recycled water can help provide a drought-resistant water supply.
Economic benefits: Recycled water can help protect water supplies and be more cost-effective.
Challenges
Public opinion: People may be resistant to drinking water that comes from toilets.
Minerals: The treatment process can remove minerals from the water, which may need to be added back in.
Examples
California, Colorado, Westminster in Maryland and El Paso in Texas in the United States are among the best examples.
The state of California has approved rules to allow water agencies to treat wastewater for public consumption.
Colorado was the first state to allow direct potable reuse.
Westminster officials plan to convert some of their wastewater into drinking water.
El Paso, Texas is working on creating a closed-loop water recycling system.
So, the world’s most powerful country is recycling water and using it for drinking purposes.
Well, who could have thought? But then, it is about sustaining life.
Desalination
One example of a country using desalination to get drinking water is Saudi Arabia, one of the richest nations on the planet. Its main challenges are water scarcity and shortage of potable water. This country has abundance of oil but dearth of clean drinking water. Hence, it has made substantial investments in seawater desalination and water miming.
Currently, about 50% of drinking water comes from desalination, 40% from the mining of non-renewable groundwater and only 10% from surface water in the mountainous southwest of the country.
Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh is supplied with desalinated water pumped from the Persian Gulf over a distance of 467 km. This water is provided almost for free to residential users.
Apart from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the region, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries consisting of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) depend mainly on seawater desalination to meet their water needs.