Lifestraw, Version II: Still Filtering; Now Without Aftertaste

We were quite happy to see the development of the Lifestraw, a design with the huge world-changing potential to help provide clean drinking water to the more than one billion people worldwide do not have access to safe drinking water. Unfortunately, the original design -- featured in the Design for the Other 90 Percent exhibition, among others -- added the unpleasant taste of iodine to the water. A new version, which took this information from the field into account, has fixed this problem, making clean, safe drinking water ever better for those who need it most.

Like the original version, the light-weight, 12.2 inch (25cm) device can be carried or worn around the neck and filters a minimum of about 185 gallons of water (700 liters, or a year's worth) and requires no electricity or spare parts for the duration of its life. Lifestraw provides protection from from common diarrhoeal diseases, removing particles down to 15 microns and killing and removing 99.999% of waterborne bacteria plus 98.7% of waterborne viruses. Lots more details on the device's design and performance are available at ::Lifestraw via ::Gizmodo