From a slim glass, Aaron Tartakovsky enjoys a beer with a golden color and a slightly fruity aroma. But behind its apparent simplicity, the drink is based on an unexpected ingredient: recycled wastewater from a building in San Francisco.
The foam was brewed to alert the public to the “untapped potential” of these seemingly forbidding sources of liquid at a time when the American West is struggling with chronic droughts made worse by global warming, the boss explains from the recycling company Epic Cleantec.
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“Beer has brought people together since the dawn of humanity,” he told AFP. It is therefore “an incredible opportunity” to show the public “that in a time of climate change (…) recycled water is an excellent way to ensure the safety of our communities for future generations.”
Its vintage includes water from showers, sinks and washing machines in a 550-apartment skyscraper, where the company treats the water in the basement and returns it directly to the 40 floors in a closed loop. Enough to power the toilets or irrigation system.
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Diverting it into faucets so it can be drunk is prohibited under California law. But once it’s filtered, the gray water filled with nasty particles actually becomes crystal clear. So much so that it “meets or exceeds federal drinking water quality standards,” the entrepreneur emphasizes.
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To prove this, he teamed up with a brewery to create a beer inspired by the German Kölsch.
“No difference” in taste
Epic Cleantec technology purifies water in three stages.
The liquid is first subjected to a biological treatment with bacteria, which attack pollutants like the human stomach. The water is then filtered through microscopic membranes that measure one-thousandth the diameter of a human hair. Finally, it is disinfected with ultraviolet light and chlorine.
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The result surprised Chris Garrett, head of Devil’s Canyon Brewery, which produced 7,200 cans using the building’s water.
“We probably started with a cleaner base than the community (water)” that he typically uses for his vintages, he says.
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The final taste exceeded all his expectations: one of his beerologist friends tested it blindly, unable to distinguish it from a classic beer.
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“There is literally no difference, no one can notice it,” laughs the Cervoise lover.
Given the success of this educational project, which is distributed free of charge at major events such as the recent Climate Week in New York, the two companies would like to change California law to allow the drink to be marketed.
“The public is much more willing to accept recycled water than we think,” said Mr. Tartakovsky, who served the beer at his wedding.
Resource under pressure
In the United States, in some places such as Scottsdale, Arizona, wastewater has long been recycled by factories to irrigate golf courses and crops. Others, like Orange County, California, release this treated water back into the groundwater, which acts as a buffer before flowing back into the faucets.
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But with chronic droughts plaguing the region and worsening due to climate change, water sources are drying up. The Colorado River, on which millions of Americans depend, is increasingly threatened.
Authorities are therefore considering recycling wastewater for direct reuse without having to return it to the natural environment. After Colorado last year, California must take new measures in this direction by the end of 2023.
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This practice, called “Direct Potable Reuse” (DPR), has been in place in Namibia, in the desert metropolis of Windhoek, since 1968. But it is sparking tensions in America: Its critics have coined the alliteration “toilet to faucet,” which ignores the recycling process in order to arouse disgust.
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However, according to a recent study from Stanford University, recycled wastewater is drinkable and even less toxic than other tap water because it is treated more stringently.
“The public often views desalination as a preferred alternative,” notes Bill Mitch, co-author of this study. “But beyond the need for proximity to the coast (…), cleaning seawater uses much more energy than municipal wastewater and costs about twice as much.”
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For the civil and environmental engineering professor, initiatives like Epic Cleantec’s are helping to change mentalities. In recent years, other beers have been brewed in Arizona and Idaho using wastewater from large factories.
“Each of these measures helps to dilute the bad reputation that the expression ‘toilet to tap’ creates,” he praises.