[at-l] Fw: [SMS] Bottle makes dirty water drinkable

[Bruce W. Calkins]

Tjis could be a nice toy for us backpackers.

Black Wolfe
Bruce W.

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http://www.lifesaversystems.com/

A little high priced but not if you need something to drink.

 Bottle makes dirty water drinkable

By Christopher Hope, Home Affairs Correspondent
Last Updated: 2:30am BST 13/09/2007

The way fresh water is supplied to disaster-hit regions could be 
revolutionised after an Ipswich-based businessman invented a £190 bottle 
that makes foul-smelling water drinkable in seconds.

Michael Pritchard hopes that the bottle could be a life-saver for refugees 
in disaster regions where access to clean drinking water is vital.

The Life Saver bottle, bottle makes dirty water drinkable
The Life Saver bottle, which can clean up the dirtiest water being 
demonstrated

However, the military are already latching on to his idea. Four hours after 
Mr Pritchard launched his new "Life Saver" bottle at the DESI defence show 
in London yesterday, he sold out his entire 1,000 stock. "I am bowled over," 
he said.

Military chiefs are excited because the bottles, which can distill either 
4,000 litres or 6,000 litres
[1056.688 gal. to 1585.032 gal.]
without changing the filter, will have huge benefits for soldiers who hate 
drinking iodine-flavoured water.

In July a protype of the bottle was voted "Best Technological Development" 
at the Soldier Technology conference.

Mr Pritchard, who runs a water treatment business in Ipswich, was inspired 
after watching coverage of the tsunami in south-east Asia on Boxing Day 2004 
and of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana the following year.

He was amazed to see refugees waiting for days to get any fresh water.

He said: "Something had to be done. It took me a little while and some very 
frustrating prototypes but eventually I did it."

Conventional filters can cut out bacteria measuring more than 200 nanometres 
but not viruses, which typically are 25 nanometres long.

Mr Pritchard's bottle can clean up any water - including faecal matter - 
using a filter that cuts out anything longer than 15 nanometres, which means 
that viruses can be filtered out without the use of chemicals.