Droughts across the U.S. are spurring drinking water authorities to develop creative and practical solutions to addressing the population's water demands. Orange County, California is even going so far as to recycle its own sewage grey water into pure drinking water:

From the LA Times:

"Almost four years after construction began, the facility is now purifying effluent from a neighboring sewage treatment plant run by the Orange County Sanitation District, a partner in the venture...

The finished product will be injected into the county's vast groundwater basin to combat saltwater intrusion and supplement drinking water supplies for 2.3 million people in coastal, central and northern Orange County...

'Our sources from the delta and the Colorado River are becoming unavailable,' said Michael R. Markus, general manager of the water district. 'This will help drought-proof the region and give us a locally controlled source of water...'

Basically, the facility takes treated sewage, which would have been discharged into the sea, and runs it through an advanced filtration system."

This innovation came with a sizable price tag, $490 million. The ultra-purified water is being injected back into the underground aquifer at 70 million gallons a day - not being straight piped back to people's homes, which would no doubt frighten some folks. Desperate times call for desperate measures and if the droughts that currently threaten the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic and Mountain West persist, cities like Atlanta, Charlotte and Denver may want to consider taking notes on Orange County's experience.