The City of Tomorrow Will Run on Your Toilet Water

Epic Cleantec processes San Francisco apartments' wastewater into clean water, renewable energy, and soil.

Theoretically, the used water that flows out of your home contains 10 times the amount of energy it takes for a treatment facility to process it.

Cities suck up a lot of water, especially as their populations get richer (and therefore more wasteful) and urban industrial activity increases.

The technology to extract fresh water from wastewater has existed for decades .

In 2026 , San Diego will start delivering drinking water thanks to advanced purification techniques.

In 2022 , Maine banned the use of sludge as fertilizer due to contamination with PFAS , a group of chemicals linked to cancers and hormonal problems.

A wastewater facility can also create fuel in oxygen-free chambers, where microbes eat the solid waste and release methane “biogas” as a byproduct.

Biogas comes from the crops we eat and poop into the sewer system, which grew by drawing down carbon from the atmosphere.

The future of wastewater is circular, recycling back into drinking water, compost for urban farms, and energy.