Go green with filtration system that lets you drink shower water
Environmentalists won’t stop at much to conserve.
They’ve developed a panel you can plunk on your roof to save electricity. They’ve engineered giant, swooping windmills that dot our landscapes and power cities. And they’ve designed the hybrid car that, just earlier this week, we wondered if it had somehow become too quiet to be safe.
But here’s one eco-conscious idea that, despite the benefits, might take a bit to catch on.
Scientists have designed a filtration system you can use now to drink your own shower water.
(Repeat after me: Drink your own shower water … Drink your own shower water ... Drink your own shower water.)
The eco-shower works presumably in your existing unit with a slight – and we’re guessing expensive – retrofit.
Underneath your regular shower floor, the design allows for a special plant-based filtration system that recycles your water through a mix of traditional filters, sand and live reeds growing under your feet.
According to one designer, the plant system is so effective, no traces of chemicals from any of your soaps or shampoos would remain in the recycled water.
The plant filtration shower isn’t quite ready for the marketplace it seems; there’s no mention of price and it’s still in the prototype phase.
But requests on where to buy the device have apparently rushed in, the exact opposite reaction I imagine a “re-use your discarded underwear to make tea” initiative would warrant.
“(The consumer response) has made us think we should keep on developing this idea and start thinking of ways to integrate it and bring it closer to reality,” designer Jun Yasumoto told the Daily Mail.
By Jason Buckland, MSN Money
Posted by: George | Oct 19, 2021 10:00:28 AM
you know, when I read the headline I thought "big deal, I drink water in the shower all the time"... and then I realized you mean AFTER it goes through the drain.... yuck.
Posted by: Nic Sandoval | Oct 19, 2021 11:07:30 AM
If you convine this idea with a rain water filtration system it would be whorth the expence.
Besides, in the near future in some areas we'll need to do this anyway. Also, it would
encourage a lot busy people to take jacussy hot baths and maybe feal relax and try taken
the bus to work or maybe better to think of adding another green filtration system.
Posted by: Dave Stone | Oct 19, 2021 11:49:20 AM
Long live Kramer !!!
Posted by: PJ | Oct 19, 2021 1:55:40 PM
Let's remember where our drinking water comes from! People [ not on well water] normally drink their waste shower water after having gone through a municipal water treatment plant...I guess having a home filtration system may save taxpayers $$??
Posted by: jaspr | Oct 19, 2021 4:03:39 PM
What about those that pee in the shower or do not have great wiping abilities... not for me yet. I will drink out of the creek instead
Posted by: CATHERINE | Oct 19, 2021 5:54:58 PM
Why not just recycle the water back thorugh the shower unit.....no chance of drinking contaminated if the system breaks down....and it would sure save on the amount of water used.
Posted by: Johnny Scum | Oct 19, 2021 11:02:54 PM
I peed in your creek
Posted by: PKS | Oct 20, 2021 12:07:59 AM
I have to agree with PJ's comments and point out to those grossed out by urine that in most urban areas our toilets, showers and sinks all link to the same drain which then travels to a treatment plant to be cleansed and then back into our lakes & streams and then... shocker... back into the treatment plants that prepare it to come back out of our taps. Guess we have been drinking recycled pee for a long time now (sorry if you weren't aware of this) not to mention all the fish poop!
Anyway, a system like this is basicly a scaled down version of what has been going on in rural areas for quite some time. Those who are on wells and septic systems are using a similar process right now. Water from the well comes from the ground water deep under ground, gets used by us and goes down the drain (via shower, toilet or sink) and into the septic system. Most of these septic systems are series of processes including holding tanks, weeping tiles and such. The basic idea is that mother nature has a built in amazing cleansing system that takes the water (or shower waste) and breaks it down by filtering it through layers of... wait for it... natural stone filters, sand live reeds and other plant matter. (sounds a lot like "traditional filters, sand and live reeds" as mentioned in the above system) That same water then returns to the 'ground water' which is pumped up our wells and back into our taps for that thirst quenching summer afternoon glass of pee... er, water.
Point is that the process itself isn't exactly new, its just a different application of an age old process. It might not eliminate the need for municipal water treatment facilities but it definately would ease the stress placed on them and the volume demand. As it is now, the demand is in most cases too great for 'eco-friendly' techniques since this natural filtration system does take time where many of our current chemical treatments work much faster.
Truth be told, I'd rather drink naturally purified water than chemically treated water... oh wait, many of us already do... we pay money to by this type of water.
All this talk has made me thirsty... Drink up ladies and gents!