Right now, the American Southwest is experiencing one of the worst droughts on record — the past 22 years are considered the worst dry-spell in 12,000 years. 

Since much of the West is experiencing this megadrought, and many Californians face water restrictions, conserving water is important step. But while conservation may mitigate water shortage, it is not a permanent solution to the problem of limited sources of water, especially in Southern California. 

That means we’re going to have to get inventive here. One solution to creating a new source of drinking water could be to use recycled wastewater — recycling the water from our sinks and showers, and even toilets, to use as drinking water. And although this might seem like an unsavory solution to our water woes, this process is already being used around the world, and even in Orange County, California, which has the world’s largest wastewater recycling facility.

So could could recycling wastewater be the future of our drinking water?

For more, we speak with Dr. Daniel McCurry, Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Southern California.