Astronauts who live on the International Space Station do after it's recycled and purified into potable water.

And so do people in Singapore and San Diego who sip highly treated sewage water straight out of the tap.

The California city says by 2035 it will use treated waste water to provide one-third of its water supply.

London is downstream from waste water recycling plants that discharge into the Thames River.

But will it ever happen in Orange? That's the question likely to get Orange councillors fired up when they look at possible solutions to our dwindling water supplies including taking back some of the treated stuff that goes to the Cadia gold mine.

Waste water that originates from toilets, showers and laundries has been recycled and used for years but usually only for parks, gardens and golf courses.

More than 2000 new homes in north Orange have connections to both potable drinking water and non-potable water from the storm water harvesting scheme for watering gardens from outdoor purple taps.

But it can't be used for drinking.

The yuck factor is a key reason people oppose recycling wastewater for drinking but experts say the perception doesn't match reality.

By the time recycled water has passed through all the treatment processes it's actually cleaner than normal drinking water because it has fewer impurities.

The Water Research Centre at the University of NSW predicts it's going to be the next viable option because there's few choices other than potable water recycling schemes to sustain communities.

However, another key factor for Orange is that councillors when deciding anything will have to consider the old adage: 'You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink'.

Thankfully the Australian tennis open will soon be over and we won't have to put up any longer with this lot of over-paid, complaining, grunting and screeching lot of pampered, precocious players.

It's time somebody started an anti-tennis league in answer to the painful antics many of them get up to like smashing racquets and abusing umpires that's more akin to spoiled five-year-olds.

Nick Kyrgios has been an embarrassment to tennis with his ratbag antics but he seems to have reinvented himself somewhat since Lleyton Hewitt took him under his wing.

But Hewitt in his career has been pretty wayward himself and in one event was fined $3580 after a spray at officials and then calling the chair umpire a 'friggin' idiot and 'full of yourself.'

But most annoying is the banshee shrieking and grunting after every shot by the likes of Rafael Nadal and Alison Riske so much so you have to turn off the sound on the TV.

Players needlessly bouncing the ball before serving, mopping the brow with a towel after every rally and taking a rest every few games completes the painful scenario.

The rugby league season can't come quickly enough.

Like they do in tennis can you imagine a rugby league ref saying to the crowd: "Quiet please, Mr Burgess is playing the ball... "

Fred was applying for a job as a guard at Bathurst jail.

The warden says: 'There's some really bad blokes in there. Do you think you can handle it?'

'No problem,' Fred says. 'If they don't behave, out the door they go.'

It has been Australia's lost summer. Drought, hail, floods and, worst of all, bushfires have ravaged communities all over the nation. But the selfless actions of friends, family, neighbours, strangers, local groups and volunteer organisations have inspired us and strengthened the bonds of community. Please join us in saying thanks to the heroes of the home front by sharing your stories of gratitude. To salute a person or a group, please use the form below.