Water on the Space Station

Water on the Space Station

Right: Shuttle pilot Terry Wilcutt with 7 contingency water containers destined for the space station Mir.

The ECLSS Water Recycling System (WRS), developed at the MSFC, will reclaim waste waters from the Space Shuttle's fuel cells, from urine, from oral hygiene and hand washing, and by condensing humidity from the air. Without such careful recycling 40,000 pounds per year of water from Earth would be required to resupply a minimum of four crewmembers for the life of the station.

Not even research animals are excused from the program.

"Lab animals on the ISS breath and urinate, too, and we plan to reclaim their waste products along with the crew's. A full complement of 72 rats would equal about one human in terms of water reclamation," says Layne Carter, a water-processing specialist at the MSFC.

It might sound disgusting, but water leaving the space station's purification machines will be cleaner than what most of us drink on Earth.

"The water that we generate is much cleaner than anything you'll ever get out of any tap in the United States," says Carter. "We certainly do a much more aggressive treatment process (than municipal waste water treatment plants). We have practically ultra-pure water by the time our water's finished."

This is a very interesting concept, very interesting indeed. A notion, as farfetched as it may seems, crosses ones mind: Can we not adhere something as amazing as the above here on Earth, and provide a infinite water supply to poverished states ?

Sure, it may be expensive, but i would rather spend that 420 billion used to fund more military endevours granted to the Pentagon, on something as important as this technology.

Just a thought.

Deep

doooon't be silly. EEEEVERYONE knows it's more important to be able to blow stuff up in really cool ways what with the EXPLISIONS and the CAPOWS! and the BAMS and much fire and brimstone than have drinking water

It's easier to make more people if you run out of people to blow up than it is to make more water

Actually, people don't stop and think about this too much, but everyone's drinking some one else's waste water....if you're downstream, you're doing it. I recently attended a presentation by a member of my state's water conservation group and he was talking about a certain larger city that had water supply issues and they had considered taking from one lake, but it is a direct discharge collection from a larger city upstream. He stated "they can't get past the oogie stage" of that concept. But then he pointed out...they're already using some one's reclaimed waste water...everybody is.

I actually went away with a feeling good about it all. For some reason knowing that Texas is drinking my p**s just tickled me silly.

Ok..but where does all the waste extracted from the impure water go then?Wouldn't that also accumulate?

Actually, people don't stop and think about this too much, but everyone's drinking some one else's waste water...

Yep...

Look into how a sewage plant works...(unless you'd still like to drink tap water, as you won't after you find out, hehe...) It's all perfectly safe, but not exactly appetizing...

In a way though, all water goes through this in nature too, through the water cycle...