Portable Water Filtration Devices

Portable Water purification devices - better described as a point-of-use (POU) water treatment systems and field disinfection techniques - are self-contained, hand-carried units used by recreational enthusiasts military personnel, survivalists, and others for water purification when they need to obtain drinking water from untreated sources (E.g. rivers, lakes, groundwater, etc.). These personal devices and methods attempt to render water portable (i.e. safe and palatable for drinking purposes - without disease-causing pathogens).

Techniques used includes heat (including boiling), filtration, activated charcoal absorption, cemical disinfection (e.g. chlorine, iodine, ozone, etc.), ultraviolet purification (including SODIS), distillation (including solar distillation), and other flocculation. Often these are used in combination.

With 3.575 million people dying each year from water-related disease, the current water crisis is one of significant proportions. At any given time, half of the world's hospital beds are occupied by those suffering from illness brought on by limited access to safe drinking water, poor hygiene and sanitation. Fortunately, there's no shortage of innovation on tap, as innovators, engineers, designers and visionaries are creating new devices to help those in need every single day.

Examples of portable water filtration devices used in developing/undeveloped coutnries:
 * LifestrawLifestraw.png
 * Ceramic Water FiltersCeramic_Filter.jpgCycloclean-water-purifying-bike.jpgLifesack-water-purifier-kit1.jpgSolar-ball-side.jpgPurebot.jpg
 * Water Purifying Bicycle
 * Life Sack
 * Water Bottle Filters with UV Rays
 * Solar Ball

Out of the 7.5 billion people on Earth, 1.1 Billion people in developing countries are currently living without an adequate supply and access to water. This is an outrageously high fraction of people, and is really unacceptable. It is very important to start helping these people first and in the end work towards ensuring water security of the world as a whole.

The main 3 problems that those in developing countries face with water are:
 * Poor access to water supply
 * Poor water resource management
 * Poor water productivity in the agricultural sector

Currently, over 200 million work hours are used each day by women in developing countries to find and collect drinkable water.

Nevertheless, Water Security is not a new issue, so there are many cases that exists that allows people to learn from them in order to come up with better solutions to solve similar problems. A few other methods of helping those in need inclues:
 * Multilateral Economic Groups
 * Microfinancing
 * Charity Organizations
 * Service Projects at countries in need

With great effort and collaboration on a global scale, it is possible to solve the problem of water security.

Bibliography:

http://12.000.scripts.mit.edu/mission2017/water-security-in-developing-countries/

http://inhabitat.com/6-water-purifying-devices-for-clean-drinking-water-in-the-developing-world/