It’s only a new water reuse technology in North America. Folks in Namibia, in southwestern Africa, have been using it to generate drinking water for half a century without any difficulties or problems. Not to mention the astronauts in space.

Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, is one of the world’s driest cities. Average rainfall is 250 mm per year but the heat evaporates so much of it that only 1% of rainwater infiltrates into the ground. The city’s water supply depends mainly on boreholes and three dams located 70, 90 and 160 km away.

Every drop of water counts is the motto of WINGOC, which manages a pioneering facility that has been producing drinking water from wastewater since 1968. People from other parts of the world – including drought-stricken parts of the US – have been coming here for years to learn from its progress in developing unconventional water sources.