[Appropriate Technology] Portable filter to purify water

[Appropriate Technology] Portable filter to purify water

Do you know about the pain that can not drink water? In fact, we often do not feel the importance of water.
It was natural to drink water from a water purifier and buy bottled water.
In Korea, water and sewage facilities are well-equipped to drink tap water.

However, in developing countries, including Africa, drinking water can be very difficult.
The well-building project implemented in the international development project is still one of the major town development projects, and it is common for the underdeveloped area to walk for several hours to draw water.

So it is the portable filter, Life Straw, which purifies the water. It is a simple straw made of blue.

It is a product developed by Vestergaard Frandsen of Denmark. It effectively filters microorganisms causing diseases such as dysentery, typhoid, diphtheria and cholera, and turns 99.9% of bacteria into potable drinking water.

For personal use, the filter usable capacity is about 700 liters, assuming 2 liters of water per person per day is one year. This means that the product has a life cycle, not an infinite life.

The structure is as follows.

Step1. It filters below a certain size with membrane filter of textile organization which is commonly used in water purifier.
Step2. Iodine filters bacteria and bacteria.
Step3. Manage freshness and taste with activated carbon.

However, there is one thing to note: that you have to drink slowly, and that the water with a lot of seawater or mud is not clean. Especially when the mud is hardened inside the filter, it easily breaks Life Straw.

There is also a big product for family use, you can carry it, but you have to use it for a long time when you use it. Instead, the power becomes stronger to filter out most harmful viruses, and you can pump up to 18,000 liters of water.

However, a product made with such a proper technology also comes with an evaluation of failure.
It will be supplied by an international relief organization, which will be very inexpensive, but it will be difficult to supply to all countries and all people, so that there is a gap between the rich and the poor, which leads to crime. Several violence cases caused by Life Straw disprove this.
People in the Third World lived in scarce resources, but the Life Straw brought imbalance to their scarcity, which was the cause of contention.

It is also a matter of cost to repurchase after the use period mentioned above. It means that you have to make steady purchases over a period of time, but if the problem is to return to a life that is uncomfortable for those who are accustomed to convenient life, they are more likely not to adapt.

It is a good example and a case to show that proper technology can solve the problems immediately, but it is a factor to consider whether the solution can be sustained and long-term.