The prospect of drinking recycled urine might sound bitter, but it taste sweet to NASA. It cost NASA $40,000 a gallon to send water to the International Space Station. To me, it sounds better than drinking Sierra Mist.

Wired has an interesting article on a company working on cheaply creating potable water in areas where fresh water is scarce. Such as on space stations, deserts, and areas suffering from natural disaster. And the cost to create his potable water will be significantly lower.

Water Security has already begun putting the technology to work in areas where freshwater is in short supply. This summer, global relief agency Concern for Kids deployed a foot-powered purification unit in northern Iraq. Robert and Roni Anderson, Concern’s founders, loaded it onto the back of a Toyota pickup and drove to dozens of villages to purify their groundwater. The unit pumps out 5 gallons per minute, and a single day of purification can sustain a village of 5,000 people for a month. The cost is about 3 cents a gallon. Iraqi water companies, by comparison, charge $4 a gallon.

The article also contains interesting facts on the problem of “draining the dragon” in the early days of space flight.