Danish water purification company Vestergaard Frandsen has developed the Lifestraw Personal, a small filter that requires no power and can be worn on a string around the neck. There are no moving parts and no maintenance is required. Sip water directly through the LifeStraw® and it removes 99% of waterborne bacteria and viruses. There are several layers inside to filter out increasingly smaller pathogens, then iodine to kill the smallest, and finally charcoal to remove the iodine taste. After use, you blow air back through the straw to clear the filters. A personal filter lasts for about a year’s use. It is not effective against the parasite Giardia lamblia, which is smaller than 5 microns, but the company is working on it.
The Lifestraw costs $3.
Which is less than what most people spend on their morning coffee.
More than one billion people in the world do not have access to safe drinking water - i.e. around 1/6th of the world's population.
(Source: Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council)
The average distance that women in Africa and Asia walk to collect water is 6 km.
(Source: Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council)
Via their link you can read more and donate a Lifestraw personal or a Lifestraw Family, which can be used to filter a household water supply.
I read about this on mental floss.
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