Michael Pritchard runs a water treatment business in Ipswich, England. Pritchard came up with this novel idea after he watched the Tsunami disaster, seeing how people suffered to get clean water. So he tried to create a simple product that will filter water quickly and safely. He worked hard the next few months after a few failed prototypes; he came up with this “Life Saver” bottle design.

Pritchard launched this new product at the DESI defense show in London yesterday, soon after he sold out his entire 1,000 stock. Even the military has taken notice and wants his product. It will boost the military’s needs to provide clean water in large volumes without changing a filter.

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

The filters that are currently used in water treatment can remove bacteria measuring more than 200 nanometers in size, but not the viruses which are 25 nanometers in length. Pritchard’s “Life Saver” bottle has filter that can cut out any particles or viruses that are longer than 15 nanometers. So it effectively cleans any dirty water and makes the water drinkable in seconds.

Here is more technical information from the main web site.

The price seems to be high but it will be good to carry along when traveling foreign countries or when visiting camps and outdoors. A similar design done in a larger scale can provide clean water quickly in disaster areas and poorer regions who can’t afford water treatment plants.

I wrote another article in June where Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen produced a water filter gadget for $3.