by Craig Hubley

Created on: March 30, 2007   Last Updated: April 19, 2007

In Frank Herbert's Dune novels, the most fearsome guerilla warriors, the Fremen, wear "stillsuits" which distill water from their sweat, urine and other wastes. Wearing these, they can penetrate deep deserts and lie in wait far longer than their opponents, and they eventually succeed in overthrowing their off-world invaders. A similar set of technologies is under development, for the same reasons, by most of today's advanced militaries.

In the 1960s space race, one of the most important strategic technologies was the distilling of water from the same urine and wastes, gathered in catheter bags from spacesuits and from toilets. The longer one could recirculate water, the longer the mission could go on, and the more prestige and toughness one's astronauts/cosmonauts were deemed to have.

Today in Singapore, people drink bottled "New Water" made from the city's sewage. It's a status symbol, even, a demonstrated capacity to reduce one's ecological footprint to zero, and to overcome traditional taboos to make a city work better.

Desalination and urine processing are routinely employed on ocean voyages by large cruise ships and even small sailing vessels, usually using reverse osmosis methods.

Given the logistical, economic, military, political and propaganda advantages of recycled water it seems inevitable that we will be using much more of it in future.

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