Breaking News: West Texans Forced to Drink Reclaimed Sewage!

In the face of the second-worst drought in state history, communities have been forced to undertake the reclamation of sewage in order to meet their need for drinking water. The withering heat and lack of rain have destroyed crops, killed livestock, and nearly drained the three main municipal reservoirs in west Texas (the one for Big Spring is shown here).

Officials in ironically-named Big Spring have begun construction on a $13 million water-reclamation plant that is the first of its kind in Texas and which will share its water with the cities of Midland, Odessa, and Stanton. While similar facilities have been built in other states throughout the southwest, their products have typically been used for landscaping and agriculture, rather than human consumption.

In response to to concerns from local residents, officials insist that the plant will produce water that is clean and safe to drink, and even say the water will taste better than the relatively brackish water people in the area have become accustomed to.

What would have been unacceptable in years past is becoming more palatable in direct proportion to how parched the region is. Faced with similar concerns, experts expect other U.S. communities to follow Texas over the coming years.

According to the Colorado River Municipal Water District, it actually began planning for the wastewater recycling plant in 2000 and finally began construction in July. When it is completed in late 2012 it is expected to produce some 2 million gallons of potable water a day.

Even this, however, might be a drop in the bucket, as the water supply for the local district is predicted by some to drop from 65 million gallons a day to 45 million gallons a day within a year.