US: Why we shouldn't worry about growing plants with recycled water
Using recycled water to irrigate crops is becoming a common occurrence in drought-stricken areas of the world, including California. But scientists are still trying to figure out the implications of using water that has passed through human infrastructure (and also humans) on crops.
Though wastewater goes through several levels of treatments, there are some things that don’t get filtered out, like the remnants of drugs that humans take. The painkillers, caffeine, birth control and other products that we inadvertently flush down the toilet or rinse off in the shower end up in wastewater, where conventional treatment methods do not remove the drugs from the water completely.
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