This Simple Technology Is Going To Make History: Meet The LifeStraw

One rarely considers how valuable clean, purified water is until they are in a third world country, hiking and in search of fresh water, or without electricity and a flowing supply of aqua. But for the 884 million people in the world that live without safe water to drink, becoming sick from a contaminated stream is a daily concern.

Many third world countries suffer the burden of unclean water and pay drastically for the luxury easily taken for granted in developed nations. It is estimated that nearly one in five deaths (1.5 million) is due to diarrhea-related sicknesses that may stem from an unclean stream. In fact, according to LifeStraw, Diarrhea kills more young children than AIDS, malaria, and measles combined. This situation is tragic, but will be changed thanks to a new invention.

The LifeStraw, a 22 cm-long purification pipe, was originally developed by Danish manufacturers in 2005 as a solution to the devastating problem of unsafe drinking water in lesser developed countries. Because it is a tool that can save lives, it was named the Best Invention in 2005 by Time Magazine and Invention of the Century by Gizmag. In 2006 it was heralded by the New York Times as a ‘water purifier that could save lives’, and Forbes Magazine also labeled it as ‘one of the ten things that will change the way we live’.

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