Back in 2008, I posted about a product called LifeStraw. Developed by the Swiss company Vestergaard-Frandsen, the LifeStraw is a simple-to-use water filter that provides instant potable water to the user and will last one person for a month’s worth of drinking water.
This Singularity Hub post from last week looks at a project which donated 1 million LifeStraws to households in Kenya. An additional benefit from the use of LifeStraw in non-disaster situations is that it helps to reduce the amount of firewood people need to collect to make fires to boil and purify drinking water, and thus reduced deforestation AND carbon emissions. Vestergaard-Frandsen wants to try a similar project in Indonesia in 2013. Their hope is that their investments in these projects will pay off in sales to wealthier countries like the U.S. and Canada, where the products would be more likely used in disaster relief than daily use.
Here’s a video about the Kenya project via GOOD Magazine:
