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Lately we’ve heard many reports on the status of our water supply.  Too few people in the world have access to clean drinking water.  In just 1.5 minutes 13,000 people will become gravely sick and 4 children will die due to this problem. As it stands now, only 1 in 8 people do not have access to clean potable water which translates to about a billion people.  Until recently there seemed no real answer to this issue. In fact, as the population has increased combined with an increasingly difficult political, environmental and economic world, access to clean water supplies has only gotten worse.

Unequal access to clean water supplies as shown above

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Despite our planet being 2/3 water, most of the fresh water present is trapped in glaciers and ice caps, much of it being too remote to access.  It either comes in the form of inconveniently timed monsoons, torrential storms, hurricanes and the like and or at inconvenient locations.  In fact, one of the problems we’re having recently is the increase in weather activity which results in an increased need for on-the-spot potable water. As demonstrated during Hurricane Katrina,  a developed country like the U.S. would presumably not have a problem getting drinking water to the masses and yet it took 5 days to get fresh water to people at the Superdome.   Having ‘ridden’ through Hurricane Ike in 2008, I have vivid memories of hurricane prep that involved stock-piling water in jugs or purchasing cases of bottled water that would sit in storage for just such an event.  This becomes a regular practice if you’re living in vulnerable areas of the world that are prone to these kinds of severe weather patterns.

A village near the coast of Sumatra lays in ruin after the 2004 tsunami that hit southeast Asia

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It took 5 days for fresh water to reach people at the Superdome after Katrina

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Til now the main sources of fresh water filtration have been in the form of large-scale processing plants such as desalination or facilities requiring established energy sources not readily available in third-world countries. Fortunately there are a few really usable products available on the horizon that would not only solve the immediate problem of storm-stricken populations’, but could solve the problem in developing parts of the world.

The most recent item that caught my eye is the Lifesaver Water bottle. The Lifesaver Water Filter bottle by Michael Pritchard was developed after he witnessed in frustration the events that followed the 2004 Tsunami and 2005 Hurricane Katrina. Both situations occurring either in a developing part of the world where resources were limited or in a developed 1st world country that no one thought could be so adversely affected.  The main problem he sought to resolved was how the majority of filters currently on the market only filtered down to 200 nm (nano-meters) which is the size of the smallest bacteria (such as tuberculosis) and the smallest virus is 25 nm (such as Polio). Obviously this means contaminated water even after standard filtration.  The Lifesaver can filter down to 15nm which means every virus and bacteria can be filtered, with only clean water left behind.  The portability of this and similar products allows for a wide variety of applications which would provide not only much-needed water in crisis situations, but would save time, money and resources normally spent transporting large quantities of bottled-water.

no more Montezuma's revenge for the soldier in the field

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These new technologies would also be usable in military environments where troops are located in remote sites as well as recreational purposes for hiking, scouting and general outdoor use.

Scouting and hiking require a reliable water-filter

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As these filtration technologies advance, so does our ability to those most in need in dire circumstances. However, its cost-savings should appeal to the emergency-management community and to anyone looking for an affordable, green and convenient solution to the ever-present water supply issue.  We all share a better quality of life from these advancements.