Students Drink Toilet Water For Over 10 Years
Students from Hiroshima University’s Higashi-Hiroshima Campus have been unknowingly drinking toilet water since April, 1993.
It took around 80 students getting ill with diarrhea and vomiting before uncovering a plumbing error that sent water for flushing toilets, instead of quality water, to the drinking fountains in the gymnasium.
University officials have apologized for the mix up.
By Sun Tzu on 15-08-2007
Comment by Chris
August 15th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
uh…..wow……
Comment by Math Guy
August 15th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
Is this article four years old, or did the author not pass third grade?
Comment by jajaj
August 15th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
jajajajajjaajaja
Comment by Search Marketing
August 15th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
wow … what a mix up … ouch !
Comment by Rober
August 15th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
… and no one has died in this time, so toilet water is not so bad as it seems…
Comment by BirdsAD
August 15th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
Owned
Comment by Greg
August 15th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
XD lmao… those damn potty mouth Asians
my question is why did the kids get sick now? why not any earlier in those 10 years???
Comment by Stephen
August 15th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
*plumber* Oops, ma bad ma bad. Lemme just fiddle with this doohickey and … yeaaah there you go, all fixed.
Comment by Edwin
August 15th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
That all they get, an apology.
Comment by Yomomma
August 15th, 2007 at 1:26 pm
This was the first time the water had lumps in it.
Comment by Dirty Mingo
August 15th, 2007 at 1:26 pm
It wasn’t water from the toilet. It was water intended for flushing the toilet. Secondary water source maybe?
Comment by mannibis
August 15th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
umm..water intended for flushing toilets is the same as water intended for cleaning ur hands, which is basically tap water. anyone that knows anything about plumbing knows that..so im not sure they got sick from the water being “toilet water” more than being dirty regular water instead of bottled/filtered water.
Comment by Adam
August 15th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
Wow…that really sucks
Comment by Hank
August 15th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
The water they drank was the water that was supposed to go into the toilet, not out of it. They didn’t drink pee, they drank water that had not been filtered as much as normal tap water.
Comment by Mark
August 15th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
not really if you knew any thing about plumbing in other countries you would know that some countries use untreated water or gray water for flushing and other non human consumption needs , washing machines ect. And potable water for drinking use only. This is not an uncommon thing unlike in North America we have been so accustomed to using 100% potable water for all our needs from fire hydrants, grass watering to flushing the toilets
Comment by Web Cosmo
August 15th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
LOL. This is hilarious. Wonder what those guys did when they learned about this sewerage drinking.
Comment by dave
August 15th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
ive tired it….not too bad,….i was also drunk as fuck and passed out on the toilet.
Comment by Otto
August 15th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
It’s known as “greywater”. See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greywater
Basically, you take water that’s not all that dirty, like from sinks or showers, filter it a minor bit, then use it to flush toilets. It’s not clean enough to drink, but perfectly clean enough to poop in.
It’s a money and water saving technique used a lot in Asia and Europe. Not used so much in North America.
Comment by Richard
August 15th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
otto,
Its used here in the US more than people realize. It keeps the grass green at Disney world and the fountains at the Bellagio in Las Vegas full.
Comment by $ave
August 15th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
You’d think Mario and Luigi would have fixed this sooner
Comment by AlexV
August 15th, 2007 at 2:14 pm
Actually, this is done in the US as well…
Where I work, they take water out of the river, filter it somewhat and use it for cooling very large equipment (etc). This water source also feeds the toilets. Certainly not meant to drink, and throughout the building you’ll see two sets of pipes. The drinking water (from the municipality) and the other water.
Comment by mannibis
August 15th, 2007 at 2:21 pm
Does it really save that much money? They would have to first filter it, and install an entirely new piping system. I guess in the end it pays off..
Comment by Samizaza
August 15th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
I am amazed by the in-depth analysis that all of you have provided concerning the source of the toilet water, and the different kinds of pipes etc. Bravo!
Comment by Smarter than Math Guy
August 15th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Hmmm, last I checked 14> 10
Thus, making his original statement of “for over 10 years” correct.
Comment by Alpha Raptor
August 15th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
right on the dot, mark, as a plumber it is well known that many other countries use gray water systems and especially cruise ships.
Comment by doug
August 15th, 2007 at 4:34 pm
A similar thing happened here in the Tampa area, Florida. Residents of a subdivision discovered that they had been drinking what we call “reclaimed water” (NON-potable) because the lines for the lawn irrigation system accidently got connected into the potable water line for the subdivision.
Comment by fre
August 15th, 2007 at 4:53 pm
could be grey water yea, recycled water filtered enough for toilets and irrigation but not for human consumption. either because its not filtered enough or because people deem it gross.
Comment by drarkwing duck
August 15th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
IT just like bottle water.
Comment by Heather
August 15th, 2007 at 6:08 pm
What??? There were lumps???????????? OMG!!!!
Comment by Jure
August 15th, 2007 at 6:29 pm
That wasn’t water with shit.
That was tehnical water(provably they have tehnical and fresh water seperated).
Comment by Jure
August 15th, 2007 at 6:31 pm
THEY HAVE SEPERATED THOSE 2 THINGS!!!
Comment by Dave Mackey
August 15th, 2007 at 6:45 pm
Wow, that is pretty crazy. Good thing it was the water coming before the flushing rather than after – though I am sure they would have discovered it earlier that way.
Comment by Dude
August 16th, 2007 at 1:07 am
Ok so what water was goin to the toilet??? i mean if they were dogs at the varsity they must have been flippin stoked!!!
Comment by Rob
August 16th, 2007 at 5:05 am
Whats wrong with we use the same water to flush our toilet as we do to drink the water hadn’t gone though the toilet thats just where it was suposed to end up.
Comment by Ross Johnson
August 16th, 2007 at 7:09 am
He said over 10 years.. maybe you should go back to third grade…
Comment by ambiguous mind
August 16th, 2007 at 7:27 am
Wait, here in Pennsylvania, all water is gray. Well, at least in the cities, coming out of the pipes. Only people with wells have clear water. There are also municipalities that are just getting rid of their lead sewer pipes and others which are requiring people to use copper water pipes. And there is so much Chlorine in the water that you have to boil it in a well-ventilated area or turn your home into a Nazi gas chamber. (To those few Holocaust survivors who may be reading this, I apologize if that joke offends you.) So, the point is, we all have shitty water here, what is the difference?
Comment by the loud one
August 16th, 2007 at 11:59 am
Umm, the water at my school is this weird clody white no matter what source it’s coming from, even the toilets, so… is it safe to drink?
Comment by Mr anonymous
August 20th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
Never boil water to get rid of Chlorine, it’s a gross waste of energy. Just leave it in an open container in sunlight for a while and the chlorine will gas out.
I suppose you could open a window for ventilation, but it’s extremely unlikely such a small amount of Chlorine gas would be harmful.
Comment by faceless
October 4th, 2007 at 4:38 pm
the white could just be because of air in the water – if you leave it to settle for a minute it should be ok
Comment by Rick
December 4th, 2007 at 10:26 pm
That is sick. Just an apology?
Comment by Bobby
December 23rd, 2007 at 11:52 pm
Gross!!!! I can’t believe that!
Comment by mathew male
January 3rd, 2008 at 5:53 am
I would like to see how they look like
Comment by dabian
January 23rd, 2008 at 5:09 am
yucks!
Comment by Jones
March 27th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
That is sick. Just an apology?
Comment by luckylife333
March 28th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
oh! thank you Hank i was confused about it
Comment by amira
April 17th, 2008 at 2:41 am
YOU MEAN THAT ALL THAT TIME THEY WERE DRINKING TOILET WATER ……..GROSS
Comment by leroy slater
June 10th, 2008 at 4:46 am
All the water in the world was once dinasur pee, it is what has happened since then, evaporation. You can only feel clean and pure if YOU evaporate and condense your own drinking water. Then you will have the proud right to talk. And you need to remember that the ’sand people’ with rags on their heads, love to drink their own pee. Look what has happened to them, they live on a beach that has no water, kiss the dirt 5 times a day, make the women cover their faces so the men will not like them, make it illegal to say bad things about their religion or culture or government. will not let visitors bring bibles or crosses into their country, WON”T LET ME AN AMERICAN DRINK BEER in their country. The Jewish people gave them a crystal clear stone, that they walk around in their unbathed bodies and have turned black, but they do dole out a precentage of ‘their” oil profits to all ‘just their” citizens. Similatr to the USA only thinking free & EQUAL is just for the people inside their boarders. Learn lots of facts (sorry about the crystal clear rock), but with lots of facts then you can sort out what is to be okay, and what you can not like.
Comment by James
June 10th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
Looks like another WIN for team Japan sickness! Hahaha I love all the weird stuff that goes down there.
Comment by Maul
July 1st, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Clean enough to poop in? You, sir, clearly have third rate poop.
Comment by PROFESSOR HAN SOLO
August 14th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
YEAH, ONE TIME ON THE FALCON I CRISSCROSSED THE PLUMBING FOR THE SPACE TOILET AND THE COOLING LINES FOR THE PORT SIDE STABILIZER!! LooL361
Comment by brawndo
August 14th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
It’s got electrolytes.
Comment by BillyBill
August 14th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
This type of water is called “non-potable” and is considered unsafe to drink. Non-potable water is pumped from rivers, wells, springs, lakes, oceans, etc. and is not treated. The non-potable source could have any variety of contaminates causing the sickness, it may have also had contaminatin that could cause other illness.
Potable water is treated and tested and tehrefore safe for human consuption.
Comment by gordon gravy
August 14th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
Its got what plants crave!
Comment by Jeff
August 15th, 2008 at 12:29 am
technical, technical separated. probably.
Comment by Jacko
August 15th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Uhhh, the water in my toilet is as clean as the water coming out of my faucet. I don’t know what backwater nation you live in!
Comment by ann
August 23rd, 2008 at 1:01 pm
that is discusting that they drank toilet water. and they JUST figured it out after 10 YEARS?!?!?!?!
feel bad for the students…
Comment by ann
August 23rd, 2008 at 1:04 pm
EWWW!!!!!!
oh and maybe the plumber did it on purpose because probably he didn’t get paid enough so he did that to be MEAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Comment by marie
August 23rd, 2008 at 1:07 pm
k that is just DISCUSTING and WEIRD!!!!!!!!!
i agree with ann.
she is like so right.
Comment by marta
August 23rd, 2008 at 1:08 pm
man ann is right….
they are like totally dumb.
sheesh…. they just figured it out after 10 years?!?!?!
you have got to be kidding me. good thing i wasn’t one of those students.
Comment by elizabeth
August 23rd, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Ann!!! you are so damn right!
they are really dumb!!!!!
good thing i never drank from that water…. ewww
Comment by lilly
August 23rd, 2008 at 1:10 pm
guys you should listen to ann.
she is TOTALLY right!!!
and the plubmer might have did it on purpose. you know people these days. idiots…. sheesh….
ann you are DAMN right!
Comment by lilly
August 23rd, 2008 at 1:11 pm
U ARE RIGHT ANN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I AGREE WITH YOU
Comment by lilly
August 23rd, 2008 at 1:11 pm
GUYS ANN IS SOOOOOOOOOO RIGHT!
Comment by ann
August 23rd, 2008 at 1:13 pm
the plumber could have done it on purpose because he didn’t get paid enough and he wanted to get revenge….
and they were drinking toilet water for 10 years!
unbelieveable…..
people these days…. can’t understand’em
weird don’t u think????
Comment by O'Neil
September 5th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
It was technical water BTW ISS has the same thing except it’s technical water really is recovered toilet water it goes to O2 production.
The only place I heard it being done on earth was on ocean going ships that flushed the toilets with salt water and with gray water systems where water was recovered from sinks and showers treated and used to flush the toilets.
Comment by Kalli
December 1st, 2008 at 10:35 pm
HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LMAO!!!!!!! OMFG, that is freakin hilarious!Thumbs up to the asians!
(and i thought the asians were supposed to be the smart ones)
Comment by James
May 26th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
That has got to be the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.
Comment by John
June 21st, 2009 at 8:04 pm
yes, very sad story. James, you never know what you drink now
Comment by John
June 21st, 2009 at 8:04 pm
yes, very sad story. James, you never know what you drink now
Comment by Dan
July 10th, 2009 at 5:44 am
This is way too funny… I'm gonna start testing the PH balance of my water before I drink it now… LOL
Comment by binder
July 26th, 2009 at 10:09 am
Man, this is strange. I mean, how did they really think when they plumbed it!?? LOL!!!
Comment by Michael
July 29th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
Great Site!
Comment by Michael
August 3rd, 2009 at 6:08 pm
Oh my god that is disgusting. I can't imagine that!
Comment by Andy
August 16th, 2009 at 2:41 am
Apologize?! are you kidding me? The students should be suing them for a a lot of money. That story is ridiculous. In America you wouldn't be able to get away with that.
Comment by James
August 25th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Now that is quite unfortunate. I wonder how many people in the school were getting sick each year from that, and also if it had a smell to it? Poor kids..
Comment by two-faced joel
September 9th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
i think im gonna……………..BLACHK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Comment by penis enlarging
October 5th, 2009 at 11:20 am
It's not as bad as it sounds, at least it wasn't water COMING from the toilet. It's just water which was intended to GO to the toilet so, at least the poor university students didn't drink pee but still 80 people got sick and all they got was a lousy apology..
Comment by enhancement
October 8th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
They drank filtrated water,but not A quality.But still curios that after 10 years all of the sudden , 80 people got sick.Is water dirtier now or what?
Comment by @jessica_perez
December 7th, 2009 at 9:41 am
That's pretty disgusting….
Comment by Slendertone review
December 21st, 2009 at 5:20 pm
Water is water guys… If you fee thirsty and this is the only choice…:)
Comment by tasha
January 14th, 2010 at 5:09 pm
is this stuff 4 real
Comment by poop master smitty
January 26th, 2010 at 9:11 pm
ughhhhhhhhhhhhhgg………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. wouldnt you notice a piece if dung in your drink hahaha. wouldnt it look a little hazy
Comment by @Penis_Pills
February 9th, 2010 at 8:28 am
I know over here there would probbly be a major lawsuit out of it. http://clinirect.com