WATER ; The Elixir of Life

Wikipedia defines “Water is a transparent and nearly colorless substance that is the main constituent of Earth’s streams, lakes and oceans and the fluid of most living organisms and that includes humans too”. Since time immemorial water has had a special significance in the lives of all humans distributed throughout the globe across the ages. Hinduism stated that water represents the “non-manifested substratum from which all manifestations derive and is considered to be a purifier, life giver.

Safe drinking water is essential to humans even though it provides no calories or organic nutrients. There have been in recent years’ numerous technological advancements in the pursuit to ensure a safe drinking water. While all the products launched were for the cities and a static environment, what about those who chose to travel and especially travel to places which were offbeat and one could not just purchase a bottle from the nearby shop, which in my opinion once again contributes to plastic waster aggravation. Hence travelers, adventurers used to rely on mountain, forest streams and rivers to cater to the needs however over the recent years even these sources are no more as pristine as they once were.

Nothing can be worse than falling sick to an infection while on a road trip, a mountain or jungle trek or hike. As one afflicted by wanderlust even I have grappled with this problem and used to boil my water for drinking wherever possible. However, it was a cumbersome way of life and then something happened, I came across this … LIFESTRAW##

The US EPA (Environmental Protection Agency, has set the mandatory water quality standards for drinking water contaminants. These are enforceable standards known as “Maximum contaminant Levels “(MCLs) which are established to protect the public against consumption of drinking water contaminants that present a risk to human health.

So what is LIFESTRAW, I was deeply interested to know so as to understand what I was procuring and where did it stand as an industry benchmark.

The evolution of LifeStraw has been remarkable, it started in 1994 when the company Vestergaard was approached to develop a filter that could remove Guinea worm larvae from water. The product that was eventually designed in 1999 fulfilled the purpose and by 2002, 37 million LifeStraw Guinea Worm filters have contributed to near eradication of the disease. Isn’t this remarkable , consider the implications of this success story in our country, India.

Inspired by the design and the success the company went ahead to develop and design a filter that could filter out all the microbiological contaminants that make water unsafe to drink and the product known as LifeStraw was made available commercially in 2005 meeting US EPA standards described above.

Today LifeStraw and its various products are used in over 64 countries and for people like me, who travel all over the place this is one Godsend gift to ensure safe and drinking water when away from the confines of the home.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Let’s see about their product designed for travelers, LifeStraw GO.

My Thoughts after Usage for nearly a year now.

The product is extremely light and sturdy.

It features a flip flop valve through which water needs to be sucked and then the valve can be closed downwards,

There is a carabineer which helps in attaching the LifeStraw Go to the backpack in a safe and secure manner.

The water does not leak at the junction of the cap and bottle on account of a high quality rubber O ring.

One needs to suck at the mouth piece for the ater to flow up through the filter , hence as much required amount is only used up.

My mouthpiece had a rubberized plastic sheath that got damaged with use and now only the inner plastic mouthpiece structure remains, this results in seepage of water on occasions if the bottle is kept horizontal when filled.

My Verdict.

Just procure this personal water filter, does not matter if you are go for treks or not, use it for everyday office/college too.