Someday, millions of Americans will be drinking their own urine, says Robert Roy Britt, managing editor of LiveScience.com。

　　In a recent commentary for the site, Britt said that because of imminent drought in the West, many people will have to rely on treated sewage - containing human waste - for their drinking water. "We now have too many people living in places where we don't have fresh water," Britt said。

　　As an example, Britt cited the Phoenix area, which gets its drinking water from a remote body of reservoirs, including Lake Mead, which sits more than 230 miles away. He suggested that Phoenix and other cities throughout the Southwest may soon go the way of Orange County, California, which does exactly what he's foretold – it recycles wastewater into tap water。

　　Orange County takes "highly treated" sewer water and sends it through various filtration and purification processes, until the final product exceeds the standards for most drinking water. The water is then seeped back into the aquifer, where it blends with natural water that eventually makes it to the tap. The treatment takes only about 45 minutes。

　　The method, called the Groundwater Replenishment System, or GWRS, went online in January 2008 and currently turns 96 million gallons of wastewater into 70 million gallons of recycled water daily. "Some people are already drinking their own pee and don't know it," said Britt, referring to the people of Orange County。

　　“美国在线新闻网”1日报道称，美国科技网站“趣味科学”网执行总编罗伯特-罗伊-布瑞特称，总有一天，数百万美国人将会以自己的尿液作为水源。

　　布瑞特在该网站发表的一篇评论中写道，由于美国西部大旱即将来临，许多人会以被净化的污水为饮用水，而这些污水就包括人类的尿液。“现在有太多人类居住地没有干净水了，”布瑞特写道。

　　布瑞特以菲尼克斯市为例，称该地区需要从遥远的水库调水，包括远在230英里(约合370公里)以外的密德湖。而在美国西南地区，像菲尼克斯这样的城镇很快就会走上加利福尼亚州奥兰治县的路子：将回收的废水变成纯净的自来水。

　　据报道，奥兰治县采用了非常“高效的污水处理”技术，经过层层过滤和净化过程，最后的水质超过了多数饮用水的标准。然后，这些水会流入蓄水层，和自然水混合在一起，并最终从水龙头流出。整个过程只需45分钟。

　　据悉，这项名为“地下水补给系统”的工程于2008年1月份启动，目前每天可将9600万加仑(约合3.6亿升)的废水转化为7000万加仑(约合2.6亿升)循环水。布瑞特称：“(奥兰治县)有的人已经喝上尿液提纯的水，而自己却不知情。”