Water Purifier In A Bottle Relaunched

We've just got our paws on the new, improved version of the Aquapure Traveller lightweight water purifier and thought it was worth a shout on the site.

It looks like a simple water bottle that's been worked on by Henry Moore - the original one just looked like a water bottle - it can process up to 350 litres of water and combines an iodinated resin sleeve with an advanced filter and, at 99 grammes is extremely light. At £44.99, it's also significantly cheaper than more complex filters that do the same job. Spare filter units cost £40.

It's also very easy to use. You simply fill from a water source, shake the contents to expose them to the iodine resin then leave for 15 minutes before drinking the water just like with a normal water bottle. As you squeeze the water out, it's forced through a 2 micron filter with overlapping pores which removes contaminants, bad tastes and pathogens such as Giardia. The iodine is there to wipe out bacteria and viruses in the water like E.coli, Polio, Hep A and Cholera.

We used the original version of the bottle in Peru a couple of years ago and it's a handy option if, for example, you're boiling water for purification in the evenings, but want to be able to drink from streams and other water sources during the day without messing around with a full-on, pump-type purifier. It's also good for dubious tap water supplies in hotel rooms and the like. The original lacked the iodinated resin sleeve and we were very ill at one point, though that was almost certainly down to Peruvian mountain catering rather than water contamination.

A couple of observations based on experience: one is that the filter does silt up gradually and needs to be brushed clean from time to time. We found that when semi-blocked, the pressure needed to force water through, was also sufficient to push unfiltered water past the threads on the lid and we'd like to see a better seal to prevent this from happening - as it is, unfiltered water can, potentially, get out.

Second you have to be aware that if you, say, dip the bottle into a river, water on the outside is obviously untreated, so you need to make an effort to keep it away from your mouth.

Used with those two provisos in mind though, the Aquapure Traveller is a handy, affordable solution to the problem of getting purified, clean-tasting water with minimal hassle. It's also approved by the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in London.

For more information see the web site.