We all want to do our part to save the environment, right? But how far are you willing to go? Would you be willing to drink recycled sewage water?

No, it’s not the latest stunt on “Fear Factor” (is that show still on the air?) or some other silly reality show. It’s real and it happening right here in the U.S. Hard to believe, or better yet, hard to swallow, right? Opponents are calling it, "toliet to tap."

In an effort to increase its dwindling drinking water supply, the Orange County government has started taking sewer water, treating it and then re-using it for drinking water. The process is described as follows:

Instead of dumping [sewer water] into the ocean after treatment… it’s [cleaned] a second time using technology that renders the water almost distilled, exceeding all state and federal drinking standards. The water then goes from the new $480 million water plant in nearby Fountain Valley to the drinking supply that lies beneath Anaheim—percolating many months through the earth into an aquifer serving 2.3 million people in 20 cities. Officials say the additional purification is intensive, involving three steps: microfiltration, also used in purifying baby food and sodas; reverse osmosis, which water bottlers employ; and ultraviolet light with hydrogen peroxide, similar to how hospitals and dentists sterilize instruments.

Advocates of the purification system say people won’t even notice a difference. And a spokeswoman for the sewer water purification project says there are so many checks and balances in the system that it’s fail-safe. I say “famous last words.”