Water Recycling is the Freshwater Lab’s hands-on initiative: a plan to root a new water recycling and resource recovery industry in Illinois. We propose to capture the water currently funneled to the Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone and treat it to drinking water standards. Few will drink this water. Instead, it will support the needs of farms, factories and data cooling centers while protecting local aquifers from overstress. Through water recycling, flood waters will generate revenue rather than causing loss and protect America’s heartland from collapsing due to climate change induced drought.