Basically, water treatment plants have to make human-safe water, but then they dump it into rivers or the aquifer, where it mixes with other water and is pulled out again downstream for purification. The logic is that we may as well skip the "mix it with untreated water" stage.
Texas is putting it back into the municipal system.
https://www.texastribune.org/2012/06/11/texas-gets-creative-...
Basically, water treatment plants have to make human-safe water, but then they dump it into rivers or the aquifer, where it mixes with other water and is pulled out again downstream for purification. The logic is that we may as well skip the "mix it with untreated water" stage.
Google "toilet to tap" for more examples.
Bill Gates drank some:
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/01/10/3761823...