34 replies to this topic

[kathie_san]

Quote

LifeStraw is a water filter designed to be used by one person to filter water so that they may safely drink it. It filters a maximum of 1000 litres of water, enough for one person for one year. It removes 99.9999% of waterborne bacteria, 99.99% of viruses, and 99.9% of parasites.
LifeStraw includes LifeStraw and LifeStraw Family, which are complementary point-of-use water filters designed by the Swiss-based Vestergaard Frandsen for people living indeveloping nations and for distribution in humanitarian crisis. LifeStraw Family filters a maximum of 18,000 liters of water, providing safe drinking water for a family of five for up to three years. LifeStraw and LifeStraw Family were distributed in the 2010 Haiti earthquake and 2010 Pakistan floods.

I've seen it in some documentary tv programs and I would love to try this one. This invention is genius and I hope that people who do not have access to clean and safe drinking water,especially those from 3rd world countries, would be provided with this gadget. By the way, LifeStraw was awarded the "Best Invention of 2005" by Time Magazine.

[Mon-Jes]

On one hand, good idea, hope it works. On the other... eeeuuuuugghhhh..... Sorry, the mental image.... I do hope it works, though, because that will free up a lot of water for use.

[mariaandrea]

This is pretty brilliant. I've been considering getting the personal re-usable water bottles that have a filter in them for hiking, backpacking, etc., which is a similar concept. In fact, it's so similar, that while I am picturing scenarios where a LifeStraw would be easier to use than a small filtered bottle, it doesn't seem like there are that many. It's probably easier to suck up water from small sources than to fill a bottle, but it still seems like a bottle would be even more practical. Guess I need to go read up more on it.

[zararina]

So nice and useful invention.
There are really still lot of places that do not have enough access to clean portable water. And hope such producer/inventor/manufacturer could donate some of those to some communities that can not afford it.

[kathie_san]

mariaandrea, on 15 October 2011 - 07:12 PM, said:

It's probably easier to suck up water from small sources than to fill a bottle, but it still seems like a bottle would be even more practical.

Yes that's also a good idea for people who are always on the go. Perhaps this company could make one like that too, it'll be a must especially for travelers.

[Liv]

That is cool! I had heard of the bottles MariaAndrea is referring too but I have never seen anything like the straw. It can only be a good thing, as long as there are enough funds available to provide a good amount of people with them. It should radically reduce the amount of illness caused by dirty water.

[mommymumbles]

Pretty amazing! I had not seen this before, but I think this straw is an ingenious idea that can help so many people without access to clean water. We need inventions like this to help others. I also hope that these are being freely distributed where needed - so many children need these, especially.

[Ansem]

If you have to survive you can even drink your own p***....
This is an improvement though.

[kathie_san]

mommymumbles, on 17 October 2011 - 09:03 AM, said:

Pretty amazing! I had not seen this before, but I think this straw is an ingenious idea that can help so many people without access to clean water. We need inventions like this to help others. I also hope that these are being freely distributed where needed - so many children need these, especially.

Yes, I've heard that they are freely provided in slums of Africa and other countries that don't have potable water sources, although it's limited since they also need some funding for that. I think it should be their government's priority.

[artistry]

Very hard to watch indeed, but what a great invention and a life saving one. When there are floods and the water is much too putrid to drink, these would be just the thing to have, if available. Fantastic achievement on the part of those who were so ingenious. This is a very worthwhile piece of equipment.

[Hayden]

I'm just wondering how hard you have to suck on the straw?

[kathie_san]

Hayden, on 27 October 2011 - 06:38 AM, said:

I'm just wondering how hard you have to suck on the straw?

I checked out their site and they have a "usage manual" in there. It says that you just have to place it in water and sip through the mouthpiece. Just like using a regular straw, you just have to regularly blow through LifeStraw after drinking to keep the filters clean and to prevent them from clogging.

[mangobunny]

That's amazing and looks convenient, although I'm not sure I can get past the mental images. It seems that it would be hard to trick my mind that I'm drinking clean, filtered water when I'm so close to it...

[Germs]

Brilliant idea, nice to see people still making break throughs to help those less fortunate than ourselves.

[kat74]

If these gadget works and can be available in masses for the developing countries, then it will be life safer. There are many people out there who have one source of water for cooking, drinking,washing their bodies and clothes, animals drinking from the same source and many other uses. You can just imagine how many life's will be saved by such a simple gadget. I will be happy to see it in my country being use by families to have clean and healthy water for use.

[eds]

[jasserEnv]

I would be curious to see what happens to these things after a year. Can the filter portion be recycled or does any of this biodegrade? I would hate to think that someone continues using the device when it is no longer effective because they don't fully understand the concept. Handled poorly, these devices could actually concentrate the exposure to viruses, bacteria and particulate once their useful life has been exceeded.

[artistry]

This is quite an amazing invention, with the water resources dwindling all over, this can help the situation .greatly. I hope they produce them in huge quanities. Excellent idea.

[Ansem]

jasserEnv, on 25 November 2011 - 06:59 AM, said:

I would be curious to see what happens to these things after a year. Can the filter portion be recycled or does any of this biodegrade? I would hate to think that someone continues using the device when it is no longer effective because they don't fully understand the concept. Handled poorly, these devices could actually concentrate the exposure to viruses, bacteria and particulate once their useful life has been exceeded.

I'm not sure about it, but you could simply by a new one and recycle the old device entirely.
I mean, such a thing to last a year is already a great achievement.

[jasserEnv]

The whole idea of buying one assumes that the people who have them can access and afford them. A year following a natural disaster, is anyone going to be around to collect them? Is anyone going to be around to sell replacements? If not, I could easily see them continuing to be used by someone who still doesn't have access to clean water. This is where my worries reside in relation to such temporary devices.