The head of England's Environment Agency is calling on people to be "less squeamish" about drinking water taken from sewage treatment plants to help protect water supplies.
Sir James Bevan has revealed that water companies in are planning water recycling "toilet-to-tap" systems to turn sewage from lavatories into drinking water. The proposal is for toilet water to be deposited into rivers near treatment plants by 2030 so it can be collected and processed.
Sir James, writing in the Sunday Times, admitted that the move would be "unpopular" but described it as "perfectly safe and healthy, but not something many people fancy". He added that water supplies are being placed under strain due to climate change and that people need to "change the way they think about water" and "treat it as a precious resource, not a free good".
