If you’re anything like me, there are few things you know about toilets. You know how to use a toilet (obviously), and perhaps you can successfully use a plunger to clear up a clog. Maybe you even have mild experience troubleshooting and resolving minor problems with your porcelain throne apart from your average clog. But other than that, you’d never call yourself a pro plumber.
But if there’s something you should know about toilets, it’s that a vast majority of them utilize freshwater. And with just 1% of the world’s water supply being freshwater, many are hoping for ways to conserve this supply, especially since the human population will only continue to grow. However, thanks to a specific type of bacteria found in the Red Sea, it may be possible that toilets around the globe will be switching over to saltwater sewage.
But the use of saltwater for toilets is not new. Toyko, Hong Kong, and Singapore already adopted the concept a while back. But environmentalists hope that more regions around the world will eventually do the same, primarily because our source of freshwater is so scarce.
You might be wondering why the rest of us have yet to make the move.
Well, typically, the freshwater in toilets is treated with two types of bacteria to remove its nitrogen content. This way, the water will produce as little pollution as possible when it eventually gets released back to, say, a river or an ocean.
But one of those two bacterias used to treat the toilet water doesn’t tolerate saltwater well, making removing nitrogen from saltwater not as effective. This is one of the main reasons why most regions have stuck to freshwater sewage.
But because a new bacteria cultured from the Red Sea known as Candidatus Scalindua sp. AMX11 has been shown to be 90% effective in removing nitrogen from seawater, researchers at Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) believe it could be a solution to the latter problem.
“The findings demonstrate a proof of concept, and the next step is to demonstrate this technology in a microbial granular system containing Candidatus Scalindua sp. AMX11 bacteria and the other types of bacteria necessary for a full-scale wastewater treatment process,” Pascal Saikaly, an associate professor at the university, mentioned.
With this news, that could mean many places around the world could soon be converting to toilets that flush with saltwater instead of freshwater. Although it’s easier said that done, it might be a great solution to our world’s freshwater issue!
View the video to learn more about saltwater toilets.
