One of the padres in New Mexico sent a letter home back in the 1600s expressing amazement that the residents of Gran Quivira, one of the pueblos near Albuquerque, saved their urine for use in the muds they used in building. It’s a dry place, you do stuff:

Residents in tropical Queensland state will soon be forced to drink recycled sewage to help Australia cope with its worst drought for a century.

Australia’s third most populous state, which attracts vast numbers of tourists drawn to its tropical weather, will be the first to introduce the measures and the rest of the nation could reasonably be expected to follow, according to John Howard, the Prime Minister.