This years winners of the INDEX: award (Design to Improve Life) has just been announced. So it seems like a perfectly good time to reflect back at a previous winner. The INDEX: award 2005 winner LifeStraw, a 10-inch plastic cylinder that can filter out or kill bacteria, parasites and some viruses. A great invention aimed at helping the more than one billion people who do not have access to clean drinking water.
A similar water purifier-system was recently demoed at TEDGlobal, by Michael Pritchard. The Lifesaver; which can make the most revolting water drinkable in seconds. As seen in the video below.
Honestly I am not certain what the difference is between the Lifesaver and the LifeStraw. But they seem to use similar techniques and more importantly for this post, none of them seem to have a determined plan for distributing their wonderful technology to the previously mentioned one billion people – that is the entire one billion.
Jurying from their website, Lifesaver seems to target soldiers and participants of various outdoor activities. Hence the Lifesaver can be bought online and has distributers in the US and UK. While you can’t discredit Michael Pritchard & co, because the invention can in fact be a life saver, it is highly unlikely that these to groups are include in the category “without access to clean drinking water”. So how does the Lifesaver get in the hands of the one billion in actual need for it? The LifeStraw has taken a more tradition donation approach. You’re not able to buy the LifeStraw on their website, but you can donate one. But with a $6 prices tag per person per year (their own calculations based on data from the World Health Organization) that still amounts to 6 billion dollars a year if you want clean drinking water for all.
Michael Pritchard has calculated that his Lifesaver Bottle can supply clean water for three years to a family of four for 1/2 cent a day. That is 152,1 million a year for clean drinking water for all – a number much easier to grasp. But does that include the distribution cost? Michael Pritchard still need to come up with a viable solution on how families without access to clean drinking water, will get access to the Lifesaver Bottle. Are they supposed to go online with their credit cards, order and wait for a package in the post, like the outdoor athletes? Or how will one billion people get their hands on the Lifesaver/LifeStraw technology?