In a quote in Space magazine, Michael Barratt said,
"We have these highly attractive labels on our water bags that essentially say 'brought to you by ECLSS,' and 'drink when real water is over 200 miles away,'"
That's pretty funny, but the price tag of the "Operation Urine" is not quite as funny:
$250 million. Not cheap. On the flip side however, the article points out that:
" Having recycled water available also lightens the load for Russian resupply ships."
Which I guess is pretty good, but who would have ever guessed that we would have been trusting any Russians for any drinking water?
In another article:
"This is an important milestone in the development of the space station," said Kirk Shireman, International Space Station deputy program manager at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "This system will reduce the amount of water we must launch to the station once the shuttle retires and also test out a key technology required for sending humans on long duration missions to the moon and Mars."
In time, Recycled Urine may surpass bacon as an important compliment to every meal. Think of how tasty and delicious it sounds. Not working for you? Then consider how useful it would be in either the case of a natural disaster or an all-nighter pulled in a fast-moving car when you are too lazy to step into the gas station and purchase your own water.
However, as they say, seeing is believing and I think you should check out the video of the astronauts themselves and see what you think.