With an ever growing population and resources seemingly stretched to their limits, finding new ways of conserving water is becoming increasingly important. Microsoft-founder Bill Gates made headlines around the world recently for pledging his support for the Janicki Omniprocessor – a machine that processes raw sewage and converts it into potable water, with Gates even convincing talk-show host Jimmy Fallon to go bottoms up on a glass of the good stuff.
While the Janicki processor has the ability to reconstitute waste matter into water, and could revolutionise how people all over the world consume it, Buzzfeed wanted to put sewage water to the taste test and visited the Orange County Sanitation District in California. There, the Groundwater Replenishment System (GWRS) treats virus-filled waste through three filtration processes, leaving it perfectly safe for drinking.
Assembling a team of taste-testers, blindly comparing the GWRS water with tap and Fiji mineral water, the results showed that reconstituted sewage and highly-priced artesian H2O are perfectly interchangeable – at least when it comes to pleasing the palette.
Watch the video below:
