eli5 Is there a reason the waste water like from showers can’t be filtered through pipes and used for toilet water?

Question

eli5 Is there a reason the waste water like from showers can’t be filtered through pipes and used for toilet water?

In: 797

Answer 1

In my country, fresh water is abundant. We have so much rain all year round that we never have droughts. (This may change with climate change, but I digress.)

So, the reason why we do not employ high efficiency water systems such as the one you describe is that the potential gain in water efficiency is not worth the potential health risks, or risk of damage to other, less robust systems. Additionally, the cost of manufacturing and distributing disposable filters which need to be changed regularly is more expensive than the water it would save.

Clean water is predictable in quality and should present no health risk.