At first read, a water recycling plan coming out of California sounds tough to swallow.

That's because the Groundwater Replenishment System in Orange County intends to mass-produce drinking water from purified sewage to combat shortages in dry regions, according to The Guardian. It builds on similar work already being done that churns out clean water by the millions of gallons.

And if given a cup, you likely wouldn't notice the difference between it and tap water, according to a firsthand account. The newspaper's Katharine Gammon toured the facility and tried it. The cup she held had written on it, "Tastes like water … because it is water."

"I drink a cup of the stuff, expecting a whiff of what it used to be —  but no, it's super clean, with almost a flat taste. That's because it no longer contains any salts or minerals —  they have been blasted out by the cleaning process," Gammon wrote.

The technique involves three purification steps that can be completed in under an hour: microfiltration, reverse osmosis, and ultraviolet light.

"This is going to be a blueprint for any community that's facing water scarcity, or wants to have more locally controlled water," OC Water District President Denis Bilodeau said in the story.

The system has been purifying wastewater since 2008, cleaning more than 464 billion gallons of H2O. The 130 million gallons treated daily can serve a million people, preventing wastewater from entering the Pacific Ocean, according to the project's website.

The beefed-up process makes the water good enough to drink directly. It scrubs the water for bacteria, pharmaceuticals, and other unwanted particles. The concentrated blast of ultraviolet light — rays akin to a tanning bed on steroids — adds another level of cleanliness, per the report.

But don't expect a tap coming straight from the facility for now. The water is sent to the coast to serve as an underground saltwater barrier. Some is shipped to lakes in water-weary places such as Anaheim, where it will filter into the ground to replenish aquifers. California officials have already approved using purified water straight from the filter, which is the next step.

For context, treated sewage is also being recycled for drinking water in dry places such as Israel, Kuwait, and Singapore, The Guardian reported.

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Worldwide water woes — particularly in low- to middle-income countries — affect more than 4 billion people who don't have enough quality drinking water, according to a study published by Science.

The shortages are made worse by increased drought, heat waves, and extreme weather risks that NASA has linked to our overheating planet.

The American Society of Civil Engineers said that droughts and overuse are straining our rivers, lakes, and aquifers, challenging water supplies and mandating solutions. Even Bill Gates is tackling the problem with a startup.

Desalination and conservation are other options. On a small scale, capturing rainwater in a barrel for reuse in the garden can help save resources, money, and prevent community flooding.

There are some challenges to the OC treatment, including high energy use. The Guardian reported that the electricity bill is $2.5 million per month. The draw adds to an already strained U.S. power grid, which is taxed by increased data center demand, extreme temperatures, and other uses, CNET added.

But the OC filtration process is becoming more efficient and cost-effective, according to the operators.

"It's now cheaper to make our own water than to buy imported water, or to clean sea water," Bilodeau said in the story.

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