From the fell through the cracks file, Kevin Costner is going to save us all from the BP oil spill, using technology inspired by the urine-drinking opening sequence to Waterworld. Except this time the noxious substance extracted from the water will be oil and no one will drink it.

Turns out that since the 90’s Costner has been funding research and development into special centrifuges to fight oil spills. The machines clean 99% of the crude from the water. Manufacturer Ocean Therapy Solutions says the largest can clean water at 200 gallons per minute. Compare that to currently deployed “skimmers” whose payloads are 90% water and 10% oil.

BP has contracted for 32 of the machines to help clean up the Gulf.

“It’s certainly a way to fight oil spills in the 21st century,” Costner told CNN . “It may seem an unlikely scenario that I’m the one delivering this technology at this moment in time, but from where I’m sitting, it is equally inconceivable that these machines are not already in place.”

It’s kind of poetic, really, because in Waterworld, the bad guys used the carcass of the crashed Exxon Valdez as their base, and in the real world, BP botched the Exxon Valdez cleanup.

Here’s Costner testifying before the Senate:

And in the event you’ve forgotten the famous scene from that cinematic masterpiece, here it is:

BP oil spill: Kevin Costner’s oil-water separation machines help with clean-up [The Guardian] (Thanks to chaesar!)

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