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Sometimes, as editors, you stumble upon news that raises an eyebrow. That one odd innovation, an unexpected effect of climate change or a feat of human clumsiness. Remarkable, in other words. This week: beer made from treated wastewater.

The treated water in all stages, with the final product on the right | Credit: Technical University of Munich

Fair is fair: drinking sewage sounds anything but fresh. Yet indirectly, we already do this on a large scale. The wastewater leaving our homes enters the sewers and is then cleaned by treatment plants. It is then discharged into surface water, becoming part of the natural water cycle. Thanks to water suppliers, the purified water eventually simply flows out of our taps again.

In Germany, they are taking a more direct approach. There, the University of Munich, the municipality of Weissenburg and the company Xylem developed a type of beer made from treated sewage water. This involves wastewater that is used directly after its own treatment, without first returning it to nature. The "brewers" call their approach a way to address the world's growing water shortage. About a quarter of the world's population is at extreme risk of water shortage. This is partly due to an increasing world population, but also because climate change is reducing the amount of usable freshwater.

Pollutants

Called "Reuse-Brew," the beer is made from wastewater that has been thoroughly cleaned in four stages. "I can assure you that after the cleaning there is nothing from the sewage in the water," an employee of Xylem told Reuters. In the first three stages, mechanical, biological and chemical cleaning removes as many pollutants as possible from the water. Finally, a final chemical technique filters the remaining human waste from the water, including cosmetics or certain pesticides. According to Xylem, after the treatment, the water is cleaner than required by law.

'Skunky hops'

For those curious about the beer's taste: on review website Untappd, Reuse-Brew gets about three out of five stars. "Not bad for treated wastewater!" reads one of the reviews. 'A typical, light European lager similar to Heineken in flavor profile, slightly bitter with a hint of skunky hops and grassy notes.'

Tasting

The beer is currently not yet commercially available. However, it can be tasted at various (German) trade fairs.

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