Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • NEWS FEATURE

The urine revolution: how recycling pee could help to save the world

Separating urine from the rest of sewage could mitigate some difficult environmental problems, but there are big obstacles to radically re-engineering one of the most basic aspects of life.
  1. Chelsea Wald

    1. Chelsea Wald is a freelance reporter in The Hague, the Netherlands, and the author of Pipe Dreams: The Urgent Global Quest to Transform the Toilet.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

On Gotland, the largest island in Sweden, fresh water is scarce. At the same time, residents are battling dangerous amounts of pollution from agriculture and sewer systems that causes harmful algal blooms in the surrounding Baltic Sea. These can kill fish and make people ill.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 602, 202-206 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00338-6

References

  1. Hilton, S. P., Keoleian, G. A., Daigger, G. T., Zhou, B. & Love, N. G. Environ. Sci. Technol. 55, 593–603 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Sutherland, C. et al. Perceptions on Emptying of Urine Diverting Dehydration Toilets. Phase 2: Post eThekwini Municipality UDDT Emptying Programme (Univ. KwaZulu-Natal, 2018).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Mkhize, N., Taylor, M., Udert, K. M., Gounden, T. G. & Buckley, C. A. J. Water Sanit. Hyg. Dev. 7, 111–120 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Mazzei, L., Cianci, M., Benini, S. & Ciurli, S. Angew. Chem. Int. Edn Engl. 58, 7415–7419 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Noe-Hays, A., Homeyer, R. J., Davis, A. P. & Love, N. G. ACS EST Engg. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestengg.1c00271 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Clark, B. & Tarpeh, W. A. Chem. Eur. J. 26, 10099–10112 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Simha, P. et al. Sci. Total Environ. 765, 144438 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links