Products like the Grayl filtration cup and ÖKO Odyssey six-in-one bottle make treating water quite simple and intuitive. The Oasis water treatment system looks to add even more ease and versatility by bringing your filter of choice to your drinking vessel of choice – it filters out harmful bacteria and viruses or just bad taste from inside a water bottle, hydration pack and more.

There are hundreds of water filters designed for all sorts of activities,” says Renovo Water president Daniel Beck. “From hiking and backpacking, to hunting and survival, around town, in the home, or during an emergency, the one thing common amongst all these filters is they do primarily one thing, and that’s it. You likely have a wide scope of interests and activities, and you don’t do just one thing. So why do most water filters just do one thing?” Read more

Currently, when scientists want to know if bacteria are present in water, they have two main choices. They can take a sample to the lab, where they’ll try growing the suspected bacteria in it, and then count the number of resulting colonies to determine the concentration.

Or, they can analyze it using expensive lab-based gas chromatography or mass spectrometry equipment. Now, however, researchers from Seoul National University have developed a “bioelectronic nose” that could be used on location, and that is reportedly more sensitive than existing techniques. Read more

Currently, if you want to check water supplies for the presence of toxic bacteria, you have to take a water sample and then culture it in a lab over several days. In the meantime, it’s impossible to say if the water source is safe to use. A group of students from the Technical University of Denmark, however, have created a sensor that they say can detect bacteria in water instantly, on the spot.

Developed through spin-off company SBT Aqua, the sensor utilizes a technique known as impedance flow cytometry.

This involves running a liquid sample continuously through a microfluidic channel. Within that channel is a series of electrodes, to which a multi-voltage electrical signal is applied. As bacteria and other particles flow across those electrodes, they cause a change in impedance, which is detected by the sensor. Read more

Without water, humans cannot live. Since time began, we have lived by the water and vast tracts of waterless land have been abandoned as too difficult to inhabit. A new machine which extracts water from air could change that …

One evening 20 years ago, James J Reidy checked on his new dehumidifier and as he poured the contents down the drain, he reflected on how pure it looked. Two decades on, the idea which was spawned from that moment could influence where and how people live on Planet Earth. Reidy’s idea was simple – it is possible to extract drinking water from the air and there is a market for machines which can do it. Read more

We all know that water is essential for our everyday survival and the effects of dehydration and water loss are well documented. We are told to drink loads of water each day, but what is the right amount of water? Is there a formula or magic number to ensure we stay hydrated and is it best to get all the water into our bodies as quickly as possible, or regulate our water intake for the day? 

To answer the most important question, there is no correct or magic formula to follow to ensure you are properly hydrated each day. However, there are guidelines that you can follow to ensure that you get as close as possible to the perfect daily water intake. The most important aspects to take into consideration are your body weight, environmental conditions, diet and your level of fitness. If you take weight as the one of the main factors, then a person who weighs 65 kilograms and does an hour and a half of exercise will need less water than someone of 110kilograms doing only thirty minutes of exercise. Read more