The 'Drinkable Book' Can Save Lives & Provide Purified Water for Years

Clean water is essential to human life, but sadly, many people around the world do not have access to uncontaminated water. More than 3.4 million people across the globe die each year from water-related diseases, and a large number of these deaths can be prevented through education on water safety and the ability to purify water.

With this problem in mind, WATERisLIFE joined up with scientists at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Virginia to create something pretty revolutionary – the Drinkable Book.

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The Drinkable Book is more than just a book – it is an educational manual that teaches the importance of water filtration and the fundamentals of keeping a clean water source.

It is also a filtration tool. Each page of the book doubles as a water filter that is capable of killing the bacteria that cause deadly diseases. Water that is filtered through the paper has a bacteria count reduction of 99.9%, making the filtered water comparable to tap water in the United States.

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Each piece of paper in the book has a coating of silver nanoparticles, which gives it an orange color. This coating is what kills diseases, including cholera, E. coli, and typhoid.

The printing on each page is done with food-grade ink. The book comes encased in a filtration box that is simple to use – just tear out a piece of paper, place it over the filtration holes, and pour water into the box. The water that comes out will be clean and purified.

WATERisLIFE

The paper in the Drinkable Book is a new invention that may just alter the future of water purification. It costs just pennies to produce, making it the cheapest option on the market today. And it is very sustainable. Each page can give a person clean water for 30 days, so each book can provide someone with clean water for up to 4 years. That is pretty amazing!