Aqua Safe Straw, Portable Water Purification

The Aqua Safe Straw is a reusable water purification straw, like it says in the instructions is its pretty sturdy and very lightweight. The straw claims to filter out 99.9% of waterborne bacteria and protozoa including Giardia and Cryptosporidium. Neither of which sound very nice and would most probably result in an extended stay wherever you are with frequent visits to the toilet. The straw is not effective against chemical contaminants or waterborne viruses, if there’s a risk of this, you’ll need a water disinfectant tablet as well.

Probably the greatest asset or selling point of the straw is the potential as a replacement for buying drinking water (which can be contaminated anyway), 1 straw can be used to filter 500 litres of water, saving 1,000 500ml water bottles. This would be ideal if your not 100% about the tap water in your hotel, hostel or guesthouse but want to cut down on spending on bottled water or if you dont have access to bottled water or running water.

The straw works like a normal straw, just dip it in your glass of water and suck away, the main negative thing I found was  that it needed quite a chug to pull the water, resulting in that tingly feeling on your tongue. The water that passed through the straw does taste just like water, with no chemical taste or after taste. Its worth noting that I tested this straw with normal tap water and as the Aqua Safe Straw is designed for removing waterborne bacteria, if your water tastes unpleasant, it most probably will do after passing through the straw filter.

The Aqua Safe Straw is suggested for backpacking, hiking or camping or to be kept in reserve at home in case of a disaster and your water supply becoming contaminated. I’m not sure I would go as far as recommending that every household should have one but negatives aside I do think the Aqua Safe Straw is an extremely useful addition for round the world travel in developing countries.

If you’d like to see the straw in action you can watch the chirpy Australians drinking muddy looking water here and read more about the straw here.

Tags: drinking water, Reviews, travel accessories, travel planning

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