Background Info:
Recent events and news about water scarcity got me thinking about this. So the question is essentially the title. Or am I missing something?
If you live anywhere that uses a sewer system rather than septic tanks, isn’t it already doing that?
In my area, the water company pulls in from the river, filters and processes it, and pipes it out to homes. It gets used in the homes, discharged into the sewer to a treatment plant, treated, and then pumped back into the river.
Even if your water company’s intake is before the sewage treatment plant, the next town’s intake is downstream. So if you’re not drinking your neighbor’s processed toilet water, you’re drinking that of the town upstream.
Is getting mixed with river water simply enough to “dilute” the ick-factor here, or is there something I’m missing?
Psychology, and sensible evolved repulsion from waste. MinuteEarth made a video about this, which you should watch (it’s only 2:53), but I’ll quote a key part: “we can trick ourselves out of our irrational disgust by doing irrational things like letting recycled water sit in tank for a while before we drink it.” Do see the full video for context.
I was expecting the video to be like 20 min long but it was actually very short. I don’t know how I feel about it but I am a follower of this channel now.
Beware the binge trap! For I have succumbed to it time and time again.