Where Does Water Come From?

Where does the water from your washing machine come from? Is it clean water?

• It might be a crazy thought, but is there a chance that the water from the washing machine might be water that got flushed from the toliet (toliet water, including pee)?

• Answer:

  Not unless some maniac plumbed your house backwards. As the previous poster said, it all comes IN from the water main. Are you thinking of "graywater?" Some new builds and refitters are installing "graywater" systems that take the water FROM your bathtub or washing machine and recycle it through the toilet, so you aren't using clean, drinkable water to flush. These systems are a great idea because as the human population grows, the limited sources of fresh water are in danger of being tapped out. (I think it also makes sense because the water from your washing machine will have soap in it, so the toilet would get washed out every time it's flushed.) But in any system, the toilet is kind of the last stop on the plumbing trail. Nothing from a toilet is routed back into the house. Unless you're living on the Space Shuttle, of course, where ALL water is recycled.