On tap in space: Urine will not go to waste
Recycling wastewater also is gaining in popularity on Earth. A dozen or so U.S. communities have plants that cleanse sewage so it can be added to aquifers that supply drinking water. The biggest plant, which can serve 500,000 people, opened this year in Orange County, Calif. Public disgust has squelched such systems in San Diego and Los Angeles.
Edeen admits the recycled water poses a "psychological issue to get past" but says that, after tasting it "many, many times," she can't tell it apart from any other water.
"It's not urine anymore," she says. "It's water."
"I very much understand (public) squeamishness," Bagdigian says. But, he adds, he doesn't have to contend with it, because "you're talking about people who've already come to grips with putting themselves on a rocket."
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