Hey, feelin’ thirsty? How about a nice cool glass of toilet water? What, you don’t want to drink toilet water? Well, don’t say that too loudly around Bill Gates. Yup, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is funding a drinkable toilet water project.
The aim is to create a system that uses bacteria and metallic nano-particles to not only filter your toilet water, but extract hydrogen gas as well. Hydrogen? Not the first gas my mind goes to when I think about toilets, but sure, okay.
According to project leader Sarah Haigh the technology would be helpful in impoverished countries where usable water is in short supply. Nice idea, but aren’t flush toilets also in pretty short supply in most developing countries? Will the system be outhouse/squat toilet/hole in the ground compatible? Let’s be real, like most wacky projects of this sort, 90% of the users will be wealthy hippies.
via Geekosystem