Recent is a bit… misleading. Water purification through various means have been known and used for… a long time. The ancient Greeks knew about sand and gravel filtration, for example, and that boiling might help keep them safe.

And like I have a reverse osmosis unit installed in my house and have for 10 years, which would turn pee into water if pee was coming through my cold water pipes. (I heave lead, this gets rid of that)