In October 2022, Stanford University researchers published a study in the Nature Sustainability journal that found that recycled water is often cleaner than water from ground or river sources. The study claimed that not only was recycled wastewater cleaner than conventional potable water, but it may be less toxic than what we drink every day.
While the idea of drinking recycled wastewater may cause some people to pause, San Francisco water treatment company Epic Cleantec teamed with Devil’s Canyon Brewing Company in 2022 to create a lager called Epic OneWater Brew — a Kölsch-style ale — made using recycled greywater. The experimental demonstration project used recycled water from Fifteen Fifty, a 40-story luxury apartment complex with 550 units located in the South of Market district in San Francisco. Sources of greywater, or domestic wastewater, include showers, baths, washing machines, and sinks.
Photo Courtesy Epic Cleantec
The San Carlos, California, brewery, which has been in business since 2001, did not sell the beer, as regulations prohibit the use of recycled wastewater in commercial beverages. Tartakovsky told The New York Times that he served it at his 2023 wedding.
“I think the biggest thing was, it tastes good,” Chris Garrett, the owner of Devil’s Canyon, told The New York Times. “They assume, ‘Oh my God, it’s sink water.’ And it’s like, well, it’s actually probably cleaner than what’s coming out of the rivers.”
According to Epic Cleantec on its website, San Francisco is the first city in the United States to pass a regulation requiring “new developments of 100,000 gross square feet or greater” to install and operate an onsite water reuse system.
The recycled water undergoes several steps, including microfiltration and ultraviolet light treatments, which make it safe to drink.
Photo Courtesy Devil’s Canyon Brewing Co.
Founded in 2015, Epic Cleantec equips buildings with its water recycling systems. They eliminate the need to discharge wastewater into a sewer to transport it for treatment at a remote facility. Creative ways to use water is an ongoing issue as climate change keeps impacting water supplies — especially in drought-prone areas like California and Arizona.
“Buildings globally use 14% of all potable water,” Aaron Tartakovsky, CEO and co-founder of Epic Cleantec, told CNN. “Almost no buildings reuse that water — that’s what we’re trying to change.”
Photo Courtesy Epic Cleantec
The system installed at the Fifteen Fifty building is designed to recycle 7,500 gallons of water daily — up to 2.75 million gallons annually. There are several uses for the system’s outputs. Epic Cleantec said recovered heat from the process can be used to preheat domestic hot water, cutting heating costs. The wastewater’s organic matter can also be used to make natural soil products for landscaping, gardens, or parks.
Now, a cold brew after a long day at work is on that list of possibilities! The Epic OneWater Brew was named a TIME Magazine Best Invention of 2023 and given honorable mentions in three categories for Fast Company’s 2024 World Changing Ideas Awards. After the demonstration project, Tartakovsky told CNN that some of the largest brewers worldwide contacted the firm about the intricacies of using recycled water in the brewing process.
Photo Courtesy Devil’s Canyon Brewing Co.
“What we’ve done is just take a lot of existing principles in the wastewater world and design it for single buildings instead,” Tartakovsky said to CNN. “We do for water what solar did for energy, which is moving away from a sole reliance on large, centralized infrastructure.”