World's first ultra filtration water bottle

Juniper Foo | Jun 04, 2008

Remember the LifeStraw, a sort of sip-and-survive filtration drinking straw? Here's another lovely solution for dealing with Gaia's drinkable water woes: The Lifesaver bottle. Developed by a Michael Pritchard who was inspired by Hurricane Katrina, he apparently poured his life savings into developing a chemical-free solution that's able to purify 4,000 to 6,000 liters on a single filter. We're not clear if this will work on sea water, but it'll at least rid you of bacteria, viruses, parasites, fungi and all sorts of microbiological waterborne pathogens in the drink.

The filter is replaceable and good for 5.5 years of use, based on 2 liters a day. Filtering 750ml of water takes just under 1 minute. And once the cartridge expires, the unit has a failsafe feature that will shut itself off. This got a thumbs up from Well-Tech which accorded it an award. What's not to like is that considering this benefits the Third World nations in Asia most, it's priced out of their reach at US$460 (£230) a piece.