Okay, not really, but water that's at least been in the toilet has been approved by Los Angeles authorities as safe for drinking.

That is, after it goes through an extensive purification process that will turn it into semi-distilled water that's perfectly healthy to drink. Sound disgusting? Get over it.

The project -- described as the world's largest advanced water purification project of its kind, puts highly treated sewer water through a three-step process that includes micro-filtration, reverse osmosis and ultraviolet light with hydrogen peroxide, said Ron Wildermuth, of the Orange County Water District.

The resulting water, when injected into groundwater basins, will eventually provide up to 70 million gallons per day, he said.

The system was actually approved back in January, but only recently has it become a hot topic, when the plan was expanded to include penalties on those who waste water wantonly by washing their cars, watering their lawns, and being generally careless with California's endangered resource.

If this method works, other cities will very likely replicate the experiment. And it might just buy us some time here on the home planet, before our species does what Timothy Leary once prophesized: move to idyllic space colonies and leave the world behind like an innocent, broken egg shell.