[JohnDenver]

In Calcutta, they've been culturing fish from sewage for about 100 years. Basically, they let the sewage flow into a shallow pond, where it causes an algae bloom. Apparently, this clears the water of human pathogens. Then, after a delay for re-aeration, the pond is stocked with fish like carp and tilipia. Systems like this can yield 2.8 metric tons of fish per hectare, per year. The "feed" is human and animal waste.

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[Ebyss]

Umm.. it sounds fantastic, I mean... fair play to them for putting "night soil" to such good use. I just don't know if I could bring myself to eat fish from that system. Having said that, if I was dying of starvation, I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem.

It's a great idea, and a great way of recycling human waste.

[JohnDenver]

Apparently, it tastes pretty good. From the article:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')hough there are fears about the safety of the fish grown in sewage fed systems, it is the general belief in Kolkata that the fish grown in sewage tastes better. This has been partly attributed to the good nutrition obtained from the rich plankton growth in ponds.

[Doly]

It shouldn't be too hard to find out if the system eliminates human pathogens or not. Just put the water under a microscope.

[gnm]

I would be concerned about non bacterial type contaminants in the system... Prozac, birth control pills, mercury, various other nasty human toxins...

But like he said - if I was starving (and I think a lot of them are there) then sure...

-G