Everyone loves to travel, but there are always some pitfalls that strike whether you’re camping in the Scottish Highlands, or staying in a two-star hotel in Puerto Rico. One travel dilemma faced by backpackers and adventure enthusiasts alike, is finding clean drinking water. Well, we’ve come across the SteriPEN, a portable water purifier that you can take anywhere to ensure that you won’t poison yourself when you’re thirsty.
The SteriPEN uses ultraviolet light to destroy waterborne microbes from all sources of water, be it from a forest stream or a particularly dodgy-looking overseas hotel tap. To use, simply flip the lid and place the end of the gadget into your glass of water. Switch it on, and wait for the indicator to turn green. Then to complete the disco effect, the funky-looking UV light will glow bright blue meaning it’s killing off a whole heap of invisible nasties.
If you’re still not convinced about sticking a glowing stick into some dirty water here’s a bit of science for you. For the last 90 years, UV light has been used as a purifying tool in hospitals, city water systems and bottling plants. The SteriPEN has been independently tested by four universities, which all found that it did indeed destroy 99.9999% of bacteria, 99.99% of viruses and 99.9% of protozoa.
If that’s interested the boffin in you, the SteriPEN has been tested against the following range of stomach-churning bugs: E. coli, Salmonella Typhimurium, Poliovirus, Rotavirus, Klebsiella terrigena, Streptococcus faecalis, Bacillus subtilis, common yeast, Coliphage MS2, Giardia and Cryptosporidum. I’m not entirely sure what all of these are, but they don’t sound like something we should take a swig of.
This little lifesaver works faster than Michael Phelps, purifying half a litre of water in just 48 seconds. It also won’t weigh you down while you’re exploring the Andes, weighing in at a feathery 225g.
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Oct 10, 2008 at 21:23:37
Water purifiers suck, just buy a filter, lazy.
Apr 9, 2009 at 16:36:55
I once shared a thought along the lines of UV being used as a form of portable ’superbug’ treatment. I wonder if this gadget would be safe to zap mouth borne etc bugs, or would that be too dangerous?
Better yet if it allowed a fibre optic attacment for use in those hard to get to places. There is of course a radation/cancer risk attached to uv exposure, but i still wonder about the potential of short term internal use.
Zapping “half a litre of water in 48 seconds” Hmm…
May 21, 2009 at 08:25:26
Water filtration and purification tools, such as reverse osmosis systems, can be useful tools in making your home.s water free from impurity.