I first heard about the Life Straw back in 2012 and, by the sound of it, I thought it to be one of man kinds greatest inventions.
It was described to me as a sleek but substantive straw that you could suck dirty water into making it completely drinkable.
History of Life Straw
1994 – Vestergaard begins working with The Carter Center, creating a simple mesh filter to remove guinea worms from drinking water.
1999 – Vestergaard creates a plastic pipe filter to strain out guinea worm larva (and prevent guinea worm disease) for The Carter Center.
2005 – The award-winning portable Life Straw personal water filter evolves from the guinea worm filter. It transforms dirty water into safe drinking water.
2008 – The Life Straw family water purifier is introduced for in house use in developing countries. Vetergaard conceives of and leads the pilot of an integrated prevention campaign, called Carepack, in Kenya.
2009 – Vestergaard builds and finances the Emusanda Health Center to ensure that every person tested in the Carepack campaign has access to health services.
2011 – The Life Straw Carbon for Water campaign uses carbon financing to provide 4 million people in Kenya with sustainable access to safe drinking water.
2012 – Life Straw family 2.0 with a built in safe storage container and the high volume Life Straw community water purifiers are introduced.
2013 – Life Straw Go, a refillable water bottle incorporating Life Straw technology, is introduced as the first Life Straw product targeting the outdoor consumer market in developed countries.
2014 – Vestergaard launches a Give Back program through which, for every Life Straw purchased at retail, one school child in need receives safe water for an entire school year.
2015 – Beginning this year and in all subsequent years, 100% of all Life Straw Guinea worm filters provided to The Carter Center are donated.
2016 – Vestergaard launches the independently run Life Straw Safe Water Fund to bring drinking water to victims following natural disasters and school children in vulnerable communities globally.
2017 – Vestergaard supports construction of a maternity ward at the Emusanda Health Center to provide high quality maternal and child health care to the community. Life Straw Play for Kids, Life Straw Universal and Life Straw Flex lead Life Straws entry into the mainstream consumer athleisure market.
2018 – At the end of the year, the Life Straw Give Back program reaches over two million children.
2019 – Life Straw Home, a water filter pitcher that addresses serious water quality issues in well-resourced nations is introduced. It is the first Life Straw product to enter home, lifestyle market.
2020 – Vestergaard and Life Straw grow into two companies connected by the same humanitarian entrepreneurship.
Is the Life Straw that good?
Many reviews and even media coverage says that it is that good and I agree. It transforms dirty brown water to amazingly crystal clear water that is perfectly safe to drink.
With the LifeStraw, you can drink directly from a water source such as a stream, mud puddle, or lake. The Life Straw will filter out virtually anything that will cause you harm in the natural environment. This includes 99.9% of parasites and 99.9999% of bacteria, such as those that cause cholera, dysentery and typhoid fever.
Although the LifeStraw has been tested up to 422 gallons (1600 liters), it is suggested to stop using it after 1000 liters and will serve a human being for a couple of years.
Life Straw products
Life Straw of course has their flagship product: LifeStraw personal filters. They come individually or in packs up to 5.
Life Straw also has their LifeStraw Home pitcher style water filter. Use it at home in your fridge!
Life Straw has a gravity water filtration system called LifeStraw Mission. Good for camping and emergency preparedness.
LifeStrawGo is a personal water bottle purification that is awesome for the hiker and to take on walks around the park.
Final word
These products are amazing in my eyes as they have helped many people worldwide and the technology behind it all is more that amazing. The creators and engineers behind the LifeStraw deserve the gratitude of most of the world not just for their humanitarian mission and accomplishments but for the development of this technology that revolutionized the way water is filtered and purified on a personal level.
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Thank you.
