--- title: Bill Gates Drinks Water Made From Human Waste description: He's demonstrating a machine that could be a boon to places without sufficient waste treatment plants canonical: https://time.com/3656199/bill-gates-drinks-water-poop/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-06T19:37:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-01T09:03:21.624Z og:title: Watch Bill Gates Drink Water That Had Been Poop Just Moments Before og:description: He's demonstrating a machine that could be a boon to places without sufficient waste treatment plants og:url: https://time.com/3656199/bill-gates-drinks-water-poop/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ed5d93812cdde87/69877863428a9ebc8ccc66b3/175797344.jpg?branch=production&width=478&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 478 og:image:height: 269 og:image:alt: 175797344 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch Bill Gates Drink Water That Had Been Poop Just Moments Before twitter:description: He's demonstrating a machine that could be a boon to places without sufficient waste treatment plants twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ed5d93812cdde87/69877863428a9ebc8ccc66b3/175797344.jpg?branch=production&width=478&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch Bill Gates Drink Water That Had Been Poop Just Moments Before > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=d88fc5c8-bb8a-4ed4-b521-ad36e04525fa&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Janicki Omniprocessor [Watch (HLS stream): Janicki Omniprocessor](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Ku9YbWPP.m3u8) (2:01)  _Published 2015-01-06. Janicki Omniprocessor_  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Jan 6, 2015 7:37 PM UTC Janicki Omniprocessor  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Jan 6, 2015 7:37 PM UTC In a [new video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVzppWSIFU0) on Bill Gates’s blog, the Gates Foundation co-founder sips water made from human waste using a machine called OmniProcessor, manufactured by Janicki Bioenergy in Sedro-Woolley, Washington, north of Seattle. As he writes in a [blog post](http://www.gatesnotes.com/Development/Omniprocessor-From-Poop-to-Potable): --- > “” --- The video is meant to raise awareness about ways to improve sanitation and access to clean drinking water worldwide. Some [2.5 billion](http://www.unicef.org/wash/) people lack access to proper sanitation, and more than [1 billion](http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/endopendefecation.shtml) people have to defecate outside or in public, contaminating drinking water supplies—a problem that can cause disease and death. ### See the Most Insane Natural Disasters of 2014  Polar Vortex The U.S. side of Niagara Falls is pictured in Niagara Falls, N.Y. on Jan. 8, 2014\. The frigid air and "polar vortex" affected about 240 million people in the United States and southern Canada. Aaron Harris—Reuters  California Drought A car sits in dried and cracked earth of what was the bottom of the Almaden Reservoir in San Jose, Calif. on Jan. 28, 2014. Justin Sullivan—Getty Images  China Smog Tourists walk on the promenade along the bank of the West Lake in heavy smog in Hangzhou city, east China Zhejiang province on Jan. 31, 2014. Zhejiang Daily/Imaginechina/AP  Washington Mudslide A massive mudslide killed at least eight people and left dozens missing in Arlington, Wash., March 24, 2014. Ted S. Warren—AP  Chile Earthquake A rescue worker inspects a car caught under a landslide after an 8.2 magnitude earthquake and tsunami hit the northern port of Iquique, Chile on April 2, 2014. Cristian Vivero—Reuters  Arkansas Tornado Aerial view of the central town after a tornado hit Vilonia, Ark., April 28, 2014. Carlo Allegri—Reuters  Afghanistan Mudslide An aerial view shows the site of a landslide that buried Abi Barik village in Badakhshan province, northeastern Afghanistan, May 5, 2014\. Hundreds of people were killed and 700 families displaced. Rahmat Gul—AP  Southern California Wildfires A house is consumed by wildfire in San Marcos, Calif. on May 14, 2014\. About 500 acres have burned in the San Marcos blaze, fueled by record heat, high winds and dry conditions. At least four other fires advanced in nearby communities. Bill Wechter—Getty Images  Balkan Floods A Serbian army soldier rows a boat as he searches for people to be evacuated in the town of Obrenovac, southwest of Belgrade, Serba on May 16, 2014\. The heaviest rains and floods in 120 years have hit Bosnia and Serbia. Marko Djurica—Reuters  Lightning Hits One World Trade Center Two bolts of lightning hit the antenna on top of One World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, New York City on May 23, 2014. Gary Hershorn—Corbis  Yosemite Wildfire A long exposure image shows the El Portal Fire burning near Yosemite National Park, Calif. on July 27, 2014. Stuart Palley  Iceland Volcano The Bardarbunga volcano spews lava and smoke in southeast Iceland on Sept. 14, 2014. Bernard Merci—AFP/Getty Images  Japan Volcano Japan Ground Self-Defense Force personnel and other rescuers arrive to conduct search operations at the ash-covered Ontake Shrine near the summit of Mount Ontake in central Japan on Oct. 4, 2014. Kyodo News/AP  Hawaii Lava Lava pushes through a fence marking a property boundary above the town of Pahoa on the Big Island of Hawaii, Oct. 28, 2014. U.S. Geological Survey/AP  Buffalo Snow Storm Storm clouds and snow blow off Lake Erie in Buffalo, N.Y. on Nov. 18, 2014\. An autumn blizzard dumped a year's worth of snow in three days on Western New York state, where five people died and residents, some stranded overnight in cars, braced for another pummeling expected later on Wednesday. REUTERS/Lindsay DeDario (UNITED STATES - Tags: ENVIRONMENT TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) Lindsay Dedario—Reuters  Philippines Typhoon Hagupit A Filipino typhoon victim collects water in front of a damaged home where Typhoon Hagupit hit, Samar Island, Philippines, on Dec. 8, 2014. Francis R. Malasig—EPA _Read next:_ [_Give to Charity Like Bill Gates…Without Being Bill Gates_](http://time.com/money/3398296/donor-advised-funds-charitable-giving/?xid=time%5Freadnext) [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article) ## Transcript [00:00] [ MUSIC ] [00:10] Over two and a half billion people have no access to [00:13] safe sanitation. We asked brilliant engineers to help us [00:17] solve this problem. And one of those engineers actually [00:19] has proposed a solution. Well, the waste is valuable. [00:23] The Omniprocessor turns sewer sludge, which is kind [00:26] of nasty, into clean drinking water, electricity and [00:31] cash, that is pathogen- free. This is where the sludge [00:34] enters the machine. It goes up this conveyor belt, is [00:37] fed into these large tubes we call the dryer. That's [00:40] where we boil the sludge. And in the boiling process, [00:44] we separate the water vapor from the solids. The [00:48] solids are now dry, and we can feed them into the fire. [00:51] Once we have this very hot fire, we can make high [00:54] pressure, high temperature steam. And we take that [00:57] steam, and we send it to a steam engine, and the [00:59] steam engine drives a generator that makes electricity. [01:03] That we use for the processor and also excess [01:05] electricity that can be delivered back to the [01:07] community. The water vapor that's created in the [01:10] boiling process is run through a cleaning system until [01:13] we have the cleanest, purest water you can possibly [01:16] imagine. The sanitation system as we [01:20] know it in the developed world. Cannot work in [01:24] developing countries. So what we need in developing [01:26] countries is a very simple system. That the [01:30] entrepreneur that owns this processor will get paid for [01:33] the input, the sludge. And that same entrepreneur will [01:36] get paid for the outputs, the electricity, the water, and [01:39] the ash. I am very impressed. With this solution we're [01:43] seeing here, and it generates electricity. It generates [01:46] clean water. It will grow to every corner of the Earth [01:49] that needs it because it makes money everyday. [01:51] [ APPLAUSE ]. It's water. 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