Speaker 0: japan is officially cutting the cord on municipal water pipes, and it's starting in the laundry room. imagine recycling 97% of your shower water with a device that uses less power than a high end gaming laptop. is this the death of the water main? the wota or wota unit is a stand alone residential water refinery that recycles gray water, showers, and sinks into high quality tap water. it's currently in the twenty twenty six field trials in japan to solve the crisis of crumbling multibillion dollar pipe infrastructure. this effectively makes the unplugged home a reality, allowing high density living or remote off the grid cabins without the needing for massive government utility projects. what do you think about this, john? Speaker 1: i think this is cool. and before i dive in, do you not remember this, like, twenty years ago? there was a concept that that there was floating around. do you remember that? Speaker 0: i remember, they're talking about these for things like, i guess, the trailers, that they use where they have a lot of this recycling stuff, but i never heard where it went. Speaker 1: the system, like you said, is wota. so it collects gray water from sinks, showers, laundry, not toilets, obviously. it filters it through a membrane filtration system. it applies a chemical disinfection, and it recirculates the clean water back into the home. so that creates a closed loop water system, which dramatically reduces the need for external supply. so the system can recycle up to 97% of household water, like you said. and this is obviously in japan. so it can meet all 51 japanese tap water quality standard, which i think is really cool. i'm curious what their water standards are compared to ours. but it aligns with the who's safety benchmarks. so water loss, the remaining 3% is replenished using filtered rainwater. so this means the system essentially, it's not just experimental. it meets the regulated drinking water qualities, which is critical, and it can be implemented. so what it does is it breaks the water into different streams. domestic water, washing and cleaning, drinking water, which is still partially external for now, obviously, and then waste systems. and so the modular design allows the gradual transition from a centralized system to a fully autonomous water system, which i think this is phenomenal. and japan is actively supporting this transit because, b, their 2025 national policy called for decentralized water systems. so they're way ahead of us. think? do you think you'd you'd build a house with this system, craig? Speaker 0: i think it's inevitable, whether it's this system or something similar, just from, whether you're on municipal water or not. why aren't we, recirculating, reusing the water at the household level rather than it going back to some major station? and i think there's a lot to be done here from a reusing water in the household. we're in canada. we have lots of fresh water. we have an abundance of fresh water here. however, many countries don't. and this is gonna really help them versus, say, us. but if you can reduce the water uses by 97%, that's way less water pollution. that's way less stuff going on, going out of your house. that's way less of those gallons and gallons and gallons of those, cleaning stations pumping crap into the ocean or the yeah. lakes and whatnot. so anything that makes our life more efficient for using this kind of stuff, i think, is great. now time will tell whether the quality of the water, like, whether you'd wanna be drinking it or just using it for, laundry and household tasks Speaker 1: and stuff. even if you're not using it for drinking, even if you're just reusing it for everything else but drinking, that you could receive a high percentage of, waste use. Speaker 0: yeah. and you can now build or live in regions with failing infrastructure without losing the luxury of a twenty minute hot shower. and we understand that, you know, the pipes, crumbling pipes, replacing one kilometer of water pipes cost between a 100,000,000 and 200,000,000 yen in japan. so it's just so expensive, and their infrastructure is crumbling in certain areas. i'm just sure we are too, but because this is a japan invention, and they're pushing it forward in their 2040, what did they call it? their water '24 already fund. they're subsidizing by 10,000,000,000 yen water 2040 fund for municipal adoption, and residential unit pricing is scaling up as production ramps up. so they're starting to sell these now. yeah. and the specs are 97% recovery rate of gray water, a 105 watts power consumption, incredibly low for flotation stages involved, 720 liters per day peak, processing capacity, and category three hurricane wind resistance for external, housing. so i guess you put this thing outside the home. Speaker 1: yeah. oh, yeah. makes sense. but yeah. Speaker 0: use a Speaker 1: go ahead. Speaker 0: use a multi barrier purification sequence that starts with biological treatment to break down organics, moves to membrane filtration for particulates, and finish off with a dual stage uv and chlorine disinfection to meet all 51 japanese tap water standards. so, yeah. interesting. what were you gonna say, john? Speaker 1: i just say gonna say because, it, the cost to replace pipelines can cost, like, up to 200,000,000 yen per kilometer. so, having this, having this new infrastructure because, obviously, they have aging infrastructure with many pipes over 40 years old. so, having this new infrastructure helps with so many things. and in the long run, like, i get why they're subsidizing because in the long run, it's gonna save the government money. Speaker 0: yeah. and it 2024 survey by the ministry of internal affairs and communication found that 60% of municipalities had postponed resilient upgrades due to lack of funding. so Speaker 1: yeah. Speaker 0: apparently, they're behind. yeah. and while, the system's trial by fire was the twenty twenty four nado peninsula earthquake, while the city pipeline shattered wota units were air dropped into suzu city to provide the only functional clean water for weeks. so it's already been deployed in emergency situations. they're ramping these up fast and pulling these. it's not total recall yet. you still need a septic tank for black water or toilet waste, and it doesn't officially produce drinking water from gray water alone without optional rainwater module. so if you're, i'm looking forward to this. i think this is great. anytime we can, you know, reduce our waste by this much, i'm in. Speaker 1: yeah. Speaker 0: so the water unit is the first legitimate step towards the unplugged home turning water from a public utility into a private asset. does the idea of showering in 97% recycled water sound like peak sustainability, or does it make you a little squeamish? let us know in the chat. would you cut the pipe, or would you put barrels out back to collect rainwater, funnel through the system, and use it so that you could have a more, closed system? let us know.