eli5 why can’t water treatment plants treat sea water the same way as everyday water sludge?

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People dump all kinds of waste into the sewer everyday: salty (food scrap, urine), organic (bodily fluids, shower water), toxic (bleach, household cleaner), etc. And the swer system just takes it and handles it. What makes treating sea water so difficult when a typical city sewer has far more complicated and varying chemicals to deal with?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

We don’t drink the water from sewage treatment plants. Once treated it gets dumped into lakes/rivers and the planet does the rest. If we did, it would be very expensive as well. During heavy rainfalls, there is a “No swim” warning in our recreational lake for that reason and why the water gets tested multiple times a week in multiple locations.

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