The Technology Used To Recycle Urine On The ISS Can Actually Make Drinking Water On Earth

Drinking water in space must be transported from Earth, making it a precious resource that has to be saved and used efficiently. This is the reason why astronauts on the ISS use advanced technology to recycle their sweat and even urine to make drinking water.

Now, the same company that designed the wastewater recovery system for NASA, Aquaporin, wants to use its technology on Earth, not just on the International Space Station anymore, according to CNN. The firm aims at improving access to drinking water around the world with its own technology.

The company says the technology it uses to help astronauts get clean drinking water can clean other kinds of wastewater as well. This way, it can create new drinkable water supplies in places with water shortages.

The technology is said to work similarly to how the kidney filters contaminants out of fluids, which is by letting wastewater flow through a type of protein called aquaporin that stops everything except for water from passing through.

Innovation manager Dines Thornberg at BIOFOS, the largest state-owned wastewater facility in Denmark, said:

“It has an enormous potential. I think the Aquaporin system could lead the way in actually creating clean, affordable drinking water from wastewater in the future. I am really optimistic that we can meet the challenges of water scarcity in many parts of the world with technologies like this.”

CNN reported that about 2 billion people worldwide don’t have clean drinking water. So, Aquaporin’s system can help remove pollution, contaminants, as well as plastics from water supplies, making them drinkable.

>>> Scientists Rebuilt The Brain Of A 200-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur, A Jurassic Park To Appear Soon?