Solvatten Solar Jerrycan Purifies Water Using Nothing But Sunshine

Elaine Chow — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 00:30:00 EST

Providing clean water is an integral part to any effort to raise third-world living standards. Solvatten, a Swedish-designed water purifier, does its job using nothing but a couple of hours in the sun.

The Solvatten looks like a standard jerrycan sliced in half and divided into two 5 liter compartments, each of which has a clear face. The two chambers are exposed to sunlight, which naturally heats the water to a pathogen-killing temperature of roughly 130° F. An indicator changes from red to green when the water is safe to drink.

The whole process takes about 3 to 4 hours when its sunny, and 5 to 6 when it's cloudy. While that's not perhaps the fastest way to cure water, the amount of resources it saves compared to boiling over gas stoves makes it ideal for making sure some clean H2O will be on hand later. [Treehugger]

WaterMill Automagically Pulls Clean Drinking Water from Thin Air

Kit Eaton — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 05:47:00 EDT

A bit like Dean Kamen's miraculous water distiller, only not quite so fancy or miraculous, is the WaterMill drinking water collector. It's basically a clever dehumidifier that collects airborne water and filters and purifies it with an ultraviolet sterilizer, providing you with up to 3.2 gallons of water per day. And before you start thinking your home air is going to be all dry and uncomfy, it is actually designed to hang outside your house and inhale water from there, streaming it to where it's needed inside: like your in-fridge chilled water dispenser. It's due out February 2009, and though unit pricing's not known, it'll cost you about 11 cents per day to run. Or you can just drink tap water. [Product via Geekologie]

Gizmodo: clean water

Solvatten Solar Jerrycan Purifies Water Using Nothing But Sunshine

WaterMill Automagically Pulls Clean Drinking Water from Thin Air