Ensuring Access to Safe Drinking Water
A Look at the Life Straw Water Purification System
Apr 4, 2009
The 2006 United Nations Human Development Report boldly contends that the water and sanitation crisis kills more people than guns in wars. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that about 1.1 billion people have no access to any type of improved drinking source of water. Access to clean water is undoubtedly one of the greatest development challenges; one of the Millennium Development Goals is "to halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation."
In recent years there has been more attention given to the water crisis, particularly in light of the climate change. In the developing world, the plight of the Zimbabwean people has been a particularly acute reflection on what can go wrong when water infrastructure deteriorates. A 2008 WHO report, Safer Water, Better Health: Costs, benefits, and sustainability of interventions to protect and promote health, states that every year 3.575 million people die from water-related diseases and 98 percent of water-related deaths take place in the developing world.
In the case of Zimbabwe, a number of governments and charity organisations are working towards stemming the tide of water-borne disease. On the 19th March 2009, the Japanese government and UNICEF delivered approximately US$1.5 million worth of water purification chemicals to the local government in Harare, Zimbabwe's capital.
In the developing world, the improvement and increase of water infrastructure is essential. However, infrastructure investment is very capital and time intensive; most developing countries have very little of either.
The Life Straw
The Life Straw, as featured on gizmag.com, is a personal water purification tool that can decontaminate water from common waterborne bacteria such as Salmonella et cetera. The manufacturers of the device claim that the device can filter up to 700 litres of water. The Life Straw is relatively inexpensive, around US$ 3, and portable.
This device was created by the European disease control company Vestergaard Frandsen. In February 2008, they announced the launched of Life Straw Family that purifies around 10 litres of water an hour and 10,000 litres over the product life-cycle. It claims that this would provide a typical family with 1.5 years worth of clean and safe water. Both its water filtration devices do not require electricity or batteries.
Access to Clean Water in the Future
Yigal Schleifer, in the 20th March 2009 Christian Science Monitor article “Is Access to Clean Water a Basic Human Right?”, notes that worldwide water-related investments are approximately US$400 billion to US$500 billion annually. Despite this, access to clean water is hampered by factors such as climate change, migration shifts and industrialisation.
Around the world, States are trying to find ways to provide clean water their citizens. In China, rivers are being diverted. In Australia longer pipelines are being built and, many Middle Eastern countries are building desalination plants.
Clearly, there is a ground-swell of international support for ensuring everyone with access to clean drinking water. In March 2009 the World Water Forum took place in Istanbul in order to shape global water policy; it takes place every three years.
The Life Straw is one of many devices on the market that could be provided to poor families to give them with access to life saving water whilst massive projects are underway. Such inventions provide people with access to water whilst critical water related infrastructure is created.
