In an era of water scarcity and drought, and in a world where billions of people don’t have access to toilets and sewage systems, people are rethinking human sanitation from a number of angles – from toilets that don’t require a sewer connection or water, to systems that clean and recycle the water that we use to flush toilets, run dishwashers, and may even drink.

Finding practical, workable solutions involves changing how we think and talk about this often uncomfortable topic. We can talk about human waste, or we can – as the Toilet Board Coalition says – refer to ‘toilet resources’. Because if it’s waste, we discard it. If it’s a resource, we find a way to use it – and cities around the world have been doing this for a while. We are making progress, it seems.

I was reflecting on this dual approach to water and waste, inspired by a story in Reasons to be Cheerful, entitled Purified Wastewater Is the Drink of the Future. It starts out with a visit to a $70 million water reclamation facility called Pure Water Oceanside which is producing “the drink of the future – purified wastewater.” It takes water from dishwashers, showers and toilets and turns it into potable water, which is these days, more precious than ever – especially in drought-stricken areas. A quarter of the world’s people already live in water-stressed areas and UN Water thinks that could double by 2050.