Science & Nature

From gunk to drink: the lifesaving new water bottle

By team ⋅ March 29, 2008 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

The Guardian, 12 March

Water from Michael Pritchard’s fishtank certainly came straight from his garden pond. The green gunk looked and smelled like something which should never be ingested on any terms. ‘It’s got fish poo and everything in there.’ However, after pumping the questionable liquid through his lightweight, handheld water bottle, it came out crystal clear. He even persuaded onlookers to taste it, swigging it with confidence himself.

The Lifesaver bottle was on display at the National Army Museum in Chelsea at a show of military technology. A pump mechanism forces the dirty water through a narrow coiled tube inside the device, small enough to filter bacteria and viruses. It has been verified by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and meets World Health Organisation drinking water standards.

‘The main reason I invented [the Lifesaver bottle] was for the aid market, the disaster market’, said Pritchard. ‘Once a hurricane or earthquake hits, one of the most pressing logistical needs is to provide clean drinking water to the victims…A transport plane can typically hold enough bottled water for 800 people for a month. The same plane can carry 125,000 Lifesaver bottles. At one bottle per family, that’s enough to keep half a million people in drinking water for 16 months.’