My understanding from someone close to me who works in wastewater treatment is that disinfection (killing pathogens - bacteria/viruses) is no problem and removing particulate matter. But removal of pharmaceutical chemicals that we excrete is still a major challenge.

@logans3365

9 ай бұрын

Yup l, it’s not profitable to improve water treatment, so don’t expect anything other then the bare minimum under capitalism.

@misterauctor7353

9 ай бұрын

Forever chemicals?

@quanbrooklynkid7776

9 ай бұрын

Damn

@azlan194

9 ай бұрын

Is evaporation and condensation too slow/expensive to make it feasible for water treatment?

@moon_bandage

9 ай бұрын

​@@azlan194yeah that's incredibly energy intensive, you're basically describing desalination

can we just appreciate how ted ed posts amazing videos for us so consistently? thank you!

@L17_8

9 ай бұрын

Jesus loves you ❤️ please turn to him and repent before it's too late. The end times described in the Bible are already happening in the world.

@hmzirqhazard1950

9 ай бұрын

No

@rodneyboehner3007

9 ай бұрын

Go drink some of my @$$ water, brah!!

@AngelSGG

9 ай бұрын

Plz stop commenting that to every channel

@Pauly421

9 ай бұрын

@@L17_8Go away weirdo.

My husband has worked in wastewater treatment (reclamation) for over 25 years, and I have my operators license. It's surprising that people don't know that the water that they bath in, wash clothes in, and flush can and in some places does end up back in the tap. Called Toilet to Tap, it's a process of extreme filtering, biological, physical and and chemical treatment that makes water safe enough for reuse as drinking water. In places like Las Vegas, almost half of the water used in the valley is returned to wetlands and eventually flows to Lake Mead. The treated waste water is responsible for creating wildlife habitats that wouldn't normally have existed as well as combating the ever dropping levels of a lake that supplies water to much of the southwest.

As a Singaporean, I see this as an absolute win

In Singapore, this type of water has a name, NEWater! The residents were skeptical initially but we are generally fine with it now.

@ghostderazgriz

9 ай бұрын

I imagine naming it NEWater only made the skepticism worse.

@minerxen

9 ай бұрын

@@ghostderazgriz it sounds suspicious but it's been extremely thoroughly researched on how to filter it. Like Reverse osmosis, etc (I remember only learning this at like primary school many years ago)

@kennyalale4904

9 ай бұрын

I'm sure it would take me a while to get used to literal 'Doo Doo water' too 😅

@azlan194

9 ай бұрын

They are also making money from this since they are buying wastewater from Malaysia very cheaply and selling back the treated water at a very high price.

@minerxen

9 ай бұрын

​@@kennyalale4904not just that, where do you think the water astronauts drink in space come from?

Hi from Singapore! They actually mixed the NEWater with reservoir water because it is too clean and devoid of any minerals!

We have a reverse osmosis filtration system for our drinking water at home since Sis and I were babies. Mom and Dad wanted to be sure we get the best, clean water that wouldn't harm us while growing up.

@astroboirap

9 ай бұрын

what a dope

@dragonpaws

9 ай бұрын

Too bad your parents weren't educated enough to understand that reverse osmosis water has no health benefits lmao

"Cloudy cocktail" 💀NAHHH

Saw this video title and didn't want to know that. But now I have to watch for an explanation to ease my concern. Outstanding move Ted-Ed

Simple and best explanation about wastewater treatment 😀

"Flush twice it's a long way to the kitchen." was something someone said when I was a young boy in up-state New York

@freetousebyjtc

9 ай бұрын

Why is it a long way to the kitchen? English is not my first language so I don't think I understand this sentence

@danielthecake8617

9 ай бұрын

I speak native english and I still don't understand

@qamarat8366

9 ай бұрын

@@freetousebyjtc I think they're referring to how long of a journey waste water takes before it gets to your tap again (presumed to be the one in your kitchen).

@Agent-ie3uv

9 ай бұрын

People in Singapore are very skeptical on drinking NeWater but when officials explained, the recycled water was stored first in reservoir everyone was wiling to drink 🚽 water

Just appreciate Ted Ed vids so much. I'm surprised that more areas don't do this already.

Just appreciate Ted Ed vids so much

Ted Ed keep answering these questions that we want to know but forget to search it! Thank you

I love this channel because it provides short, simple & useful graphical topics

Thank you for the answer that I keep questioning in my head but have never tried to look up

i love this channel so much, it's like gossiping but academically.

Love science and scientists. How far have come. ❤

I remember going to a water treatment plant; it has been over a decade and I have indeed read and watched documentaries about this issue. IT is really important to take climate change seriously and water filtration seriously. I covered this in a presentation in high school, but apparently, people didn't take climate change seriously in 2016. That's ridiculous!

Amazing. This needs to become the new norm of the US and the world!

I'm surprised that more areas don't do this already

Your videos are crucial for listening and speking

Thanks Ted Ed

Ted-ed always show us an amazing insight on what can humanity do for the better future of mankind, that we always hope for .

Really amazing

Great video 🔝👍

As a water treatment specialist, I want to add that while it is certainly technically possible to treat sewage into potable water it is a highly expensive process. Reverse osmosis membranes are expensive and require regular maintenance and high energy use. If we were to entirely depend on these systems for our drinking water, a lot of communities around the world (even those connected to existing wastewater networks) wouldn't be able to afford all the clean water they need. We still depend heavily on the free services that natural systems offer us.

It's interesting. Thanks.

Video thật tuyệt vời, cảm ơn TED và tác giả

I always wanted to know this!

Very good, i like it

Ted ed is incredible.

Wow i learned a lot from this video

Awesome!

yay Tito Francis!!

I've honestly always wondered why more forms of biological water filtration haven't been used...after all, nature is the best solution.

@ralph7349

9 ай бұрын

That is what happens in the indirect potable reuse process

@sapphyrus

9 ай бұрын

Nature uses sun which is free to vaporize the wastewater and carry it over to a clean water reservoir. Humans trying to do the same would have to use much more energy to treat it the same way. We have to be more efficient than nature since nothing we do is entirely free. It's, effort, materials, energy that cannot be provided by natural systems automatically.

@modkip25

9 ай бұрын

not always

@duckymomo7935

5 ай бұрын

Filter feeders take hours to clean up water and also they have to actually involve aqua culture farmers to raise bivalves

It is very interesting, indeed

what a perfect video to watch while im eating

Interesting!

Very inspiring theory

@ES11777

9 ай бұрын

Theory? It’s a reality

some geniuses in my city decided to put the water treatment plant with 4 open top settling tanks just 3 kilometers from the medieval old town city center, peoples homes all around. luckily I dont live anywhere near there but I heard many complaints that every night they open up something and the horrendous smell comes out and covers the area not dispersing till the morning, I even experienced that when I drove past there with my car windows open one time

This video motivates me to keep drinking it

you inspired me to make my own content like yours

This seems to me like the best solution for moving forward. We need to invest in the future and water is essential for life

I genuinely wish I hadn’t learned this, but i will accept it

Nice

nice video

I've been wondering. Is water ever really wasted? Unless it's leaving the earth everyday, isn't water just going to be on earth because of water cycle? Evaporation, plant absorption etc. makes it seem like water isn't ever really wasted, just gone to a different place but will not leave earth. Am i wrong?

@secondsein7749

9 ай бұрын

The wastage is in the energy and effort it require to get those water to useable condition and you end up not using it well. The same reasoning applies to food. If you don't your cooked food and just throw them away, it doesn't leave the Earth, but it is still considered as wasted.

@yasminsultanu4614

9 ай бұрын

​@@secondsein77491000% agree with this, and don't forget we can say it is a 'wasted' if we remember a lot of people out there still suffer from poor access to clean&safe drinking water.

@ghostderazgriz

9 ай бұрын

If we define waste by its ability to leave earth, technically, not even plastic waste is considered waste, so you can see why that definition does not work when defining the healthy use of waste and byproduct.

@einsteinboricua

9 ай бұрын

Waste is defined as something that is misused or lost. Water can, indeed, be wasted. We think water is an infinite resource, and with water cover well over 75% of Earth's surface, it's easy to arrive at that conclusion. However, glaciers can disappear; rivers can run dry; lakes can evaporate; and groundwater can be used all up. So the supply is finite for some places. If water in these places is used to keep the lawn green or wash a driveway rather than for essential needs, then that's water wasted, because if water runs out, it's rationed or must be gathered elsewhere.

@HIFLY01

9 ай бұрын

@@einsteinboricua if someone waters their grass or washes their car, its not wasted. Its used and put back into the environment, especially watering grass. Its being used and can still be collected later like car washes have drains or if you wash your car on a driveway you can let it evaporate. Might be wasted when comparing it to drinking but it's still being used and the water cycle will continue

Intriguing

this is a good video

hahah the twlight quote at the beginning caught me off guard, i was like "wait I've READ this somewhere!! i remember!"

We drink water straight from tap in SG. Amazing!!

Can we stop commenting on how the animations are great and look at how much you can actually learn from Ted Ed

Can't imagine a world without having these treatment processes of wastewater😶

Cool

And modern tests im assuming don't test for plastics or actually they do I just dont know if they are impossible to filter out like PfAs and BPA

Interesting

Living in the Thames Water area we know that we’ve drunk the water several times before

the title brought something to my attention that I never wanted to know and now Im scared to watch the video and think that they dont do enough to purify the water

Omg I’ve always wanted to google what happens to the water I flush but was always too lazy to do so

After proper filtration and removal of particles, we can safely use this water

Seriously!? woah!

Idk why I never thought we’re drinking the water we flush 😭

Singapore is S.E.A where we get plenty of rain. Why not setup infrastructure to capture and store rain water, helps with flooding too?

@reubenong8728

9 ай бұрын

Singapore is a city state. The size is not big enough to capture enough rainwater to meet the daily needs of 5.6 million people. In Singapore, we have 4 sources of drinking water (or known as taps), namely: water catchment area, imported, desalination and NEWater.

@miteshghadi3146

9 ай бұрын

Why they cannot use sea water directly instead of waste water

@reubenong8728

9 ай бұрын

@@miteshghadi3146 desalination is a far more energy intensive and less efficient since there are more salt in sea water than waste water. Additionally, there are adverse environmental impacts of desalination especially brine water being dumped back into the sea.

@zodiacfml

9 ай бұрын

@@miteshghadi3146 sea water has more minerals or salts that is harder to remove than any other large and cheap source of water

It be nice if we can channel water from our gutter during rains to be used like Gray water for our toilets and watering plants.

This isn't as disturbing as knowing that all our water was once dinosaur pee..... 😂

@FedJimSmith

7 ай бұрын

let me feel you disturb further: our body parts are once Dinosaur's

@limerobloxgaming8567

7 ай бұрын

​@@FedJimSmithnot true whatsoever

@FedJimSmith

7 ай бұрын

@@limerobloxgaming8567 probably is, dinasaurs , are cells are carbon based , and they are got rrcycled once they died

Knows that it’ll probably change the way I think about water for the rest of my life but chooses to watch anyway.

Neat

Water is life

Here in the Philippines, those who have water treatment facilities are companies selling drinking water that are either distilled or mineral.

Not gonnal lie, this motivates me to stop drink water

@Crackkka

9 ай бұрын

Ratio

@wabi6212

9 ай бұрын

Dehydration doesn’t seem so bad

@Zhm6802

8 ай бұрын

There is no escape; they use this water in agriculture, and juice companies also use it.

@ghostderazgriz

9 ай бұрын

why?

@buKzone

9 ай бұрын

It DOESN'T matter...ALL the liquid in the world.The water molecules has been in sh1t at some point...you have to eat sand if you wan't to avoid it. And it is tough to even find sand where nobody has shat before

What's wrong with distilling water?

I think they should also develop technologies to use and reuse atmospheric water. That seems more of a solution for ever increasing population.

And what about the use of graphene? Graphene only allows the pass of water through their structure. Could graphene filters be an option?

@Electrobuzz17

4 ай бұрын

Late to the discussion but will share my thoughts. The production volume of graphene is so low its hardly being used except for demonstration purposes. Also graphene oxide filters have a tendency to destabilize when remaining in contact with water so there is risk involved. I dont thing we will see any large scale commercial applications of such filters in another decade still a lot of research needs to be done.

sợ quá , uống vài cốc nước cho đỡ sợ

Yes as a signporean we been educated with that knowledge that newwater is safe water. But hey, new water is much cleaner than normal water

A country like Singapore has to do such thing because the country doesn't have much natural resources. Thanks to its human resource however they overcame the challenge of water consumption.

how? water in dumps,ponds, rivers,and seas evaporate to become clouds which then rains water

Each droplet has their story i guess

How do they filter the chemicals we put down the drain? Bleach, toilet cleaner, drano, surface cleaners etc. doesn’t just disappear

@danielthecake8617

9 ай бұрын

Filter it or make it change into something filterable.

@Agent-ie3uv

9 ай бұрын

How about hospitals waste that go through sewers? That is more concerning than common household chemicals like bleach.

That's why my water has different flavours each time. 🥴

When in doubt, dilution is the solution.

So, does this mean we should start using Brawndo for drinking and irrigation, instead of using toilet water? They do say that Brawndo has electrolytes, after all, and that electrolytes are what plants crave.

@Artstreak2

9 ай бұрын

Hahaha nice Idiocracy reference

Using drinkable water to flash the toilet seems like a waste. Especially when so many people in developing or poorer countries do not have access to clean water.

my whole life was a lie?

@joelkaben

9 ай бұрын

Unfortunately, yes.

@sir_albaxious1909

9 ай бұрын

Unfortunately sir, yes.

@nevergiveup5939

9 ай бұрын

Why are we here in this life, why do we die, what will happen to us after death?

@dumb4219

9 ай бұрын

Yu are finised

@mathsismyfavourite

9 ай бұрын

​@@nevergiveup5939read islam read quran you will have the answer

Everybody gangsta until the next time you will be thirsty

Ozone works well to disinfect water

Windhoek was the first city to do this 😊

singaporean here

water goes through all this filtration yet the water in my college dorm room reaks of chlorine lol

What happends with all the chemicals?

how bout microplastics found in water

Luckily, unlike in Singapore, natural water sources imare still somewhat available in the place where I live. 2:44 Is microfiltration PP cloth cartridge? 2:59 Which micron of microfiltration cartridge and reverse osmosis membrane are suitable for household scale drinking water filtration system?

We have been dumping cleaned waste water into the rivers and then using the same water as tap water. This is nothing new

If you are ever worried about drinking waste water don't ever go on a ship. A cruise or navy ship will clean all the water on board without going to port.

Woah

Wow i wondered how water that we use is provided to us. How to sort tab water and toilet water. It was just mixed and filtered and disinfected. Haha. But i tend to believe the power of technology

5:02〜5:22 Could someone tell me these sentence means with easy English? I can't understand these sentences, because I'm not native English speaker. And these don't have subtitles😢

@pageturner2958

7 ай бұрын

Transcription from me: "So how did we get to the point where we figured out how to safely recycle waste water? How do we know we can actually trust this science? Take a closer look at the difference between science and pseudoscience with this video." Simplified (or paraphrased/reworded): "So how did we learn how we can safely recycle waste water? How do we know we can trust this information? Learn the difference between science and pseudoscience by watching this video" So basically, How did we learn we can recycle waste water and how can we trust that information as true? I hope that helps

If all the governments and billionaires seriously try somving drinking water problem, they could spend billions to improve sea water treatment. It could solve everything.

0:43 Ask the astronauts and kosmonauts on ISS!