New Tech Aims To Make Purified Water Accessible For All

Water is something everyone needs, but sadly, it isn't always safe to drink. While tap water in developing countries can often be tainted with harmful contaminants such as bacteria, mercury, or lead, even industrialized countries often find that their water is not entirely safe to drink.

You might be wondering why tap water can be so contaminated. Several variables can contribute to contamination, such as chemical spills and widespread pollution. The lead crisis in Flint, Michigan is just one example of unsafe local drinking water. Still, many municipalities do not have foolproof water regulations in place. Even cities with top-notch drinking water solutions cannot control what happens once tap water enters private homes. The water can still be vulnerable if exposed to contaminated or old pipes, for example. While bottled water may be an alternative, it comes at a cost both for people's wallets and the environment.

One company called mitte has an innovative water purifying solution they're hoping to make accessible to people everywhere. The mitte is a countertop machine that uses unique technology to clean water by removing harmful pollutants such as bacteria, hormones, pesticides from tap water. 

The company was founded in 2015 when the founders, Moritz Waldstein and Dr. Faebian Bastiman met and wanted to find a way to make drinking water safer. By cleaning tap water, then adding minerals, mitte offers purified and healthy drinking water. 

Mitte hopes to stand apart as a truly clean water alternative for a few reasons. For starters, they offer a safe system which is 60 times cleaner than filtration and can remove harmful microorganisms. Mitte also lets people customize their drinking water with three different cartridges that have different levels of natural minerals. These minerals help people to live healthier lifestyles, according to their personal and dietary needs. The team utilizes the same standard used by the World Health Organization to measure the cleanliness of the water and checks the Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) present in water. 

This system can clean about three gallons of water in 24 hours. For people who love new gadgets, this water is as techie as it gets. The smart technology connected to the machine can be personalized and monitored with the mitte app. Energy consumption is also a key factor, and mitte promises a more sustainable approach to drinking water. The company claims its machine is the most energy efficient distiller in the industry and only needs about the same amount of energy required to iron for 30 minutes.

The mitte team is hoping to get the machines in homes by early 2018 if all goes well with their Kickstarter campaign, which is set to launch this month. In the meantime, the company will continue to partner with water.org and work on ways to get clean water to the millions of people around the world who desperately need it.