Here at New Atlas we have looked a number of water filtration products including the Life Straw, the Solaqua SODIS system, the Katadyn Vario, the Lifesaver and the Bobble. Another recent entry to the fray is the Revolve filter bottle – a portable water filtration bottle designed for use with city tap water.
Revolve (previously known as Sovereign Earth) say that its bottle will produce, on demand, over 100 gallons of water per filtration cell. The filtration medium removes up to 99.99% of all contaminants found in tap water, including chlorine, heavy metals, industrial pollutants, agricultural runoff chemicals, trace pharmaceuticals and microbial cysts.
The system utilizes a reusable stainless steel bottle with a screw cap which houses a flip-up mouthpiece. The heart of the system is an internal straw with a screw-on replaceable filtration unit through which water in the bottle is drawn.
My initial thought was that it would be hard work sucking the water through a filter that claimed the kinds of specifications this one does, but actually the effort required is minimal and the water tastes very good.
The filter medium is bacteriostatic and the cap, straw and filter housing are made from 100% BPA-free polypropylene. Filters are recyclable via a program in place with Revolve and anyone who recycles their filter gets a shipping discount on the replacement. The system is patented and meets a range of relevant standards.
Social Conscience
While the use of an inline system for filtering water on demand may not be so novel the overall concept of a recyclable filter in a reusable stainless steel bottle, with all of the attendant sustainability benefits, is. Revolve take that position a step further by committing
1% of sales revenues to 1% for the Plane, an alliance of businesses that understand the necessity of protecting the natural environment and who support a range of non-profit organizations with the funds generated. The company is also a founding partner in the World Water Relief Project, a not-for-profit initiative that distributes water filtration and purification technologies in the developing world following natural calamities.
Of course we all know that the use of bottled water has serious environmental consequences due to the huge waste footprint of discarded bottles, especially considering that it is estimated that only one in five discarded bottles are ever recycled. One Revolve filter will produce the equivalent of 800 single use 16 oz bottles of water and the company also has a filter recycling program.
The appeal of bottled water for many people is the convenience of having easy, portable access to clean water so the US$39.95 Revolve bottle may offer a viable alternative.
Source: Aquagear
Ed's note: Revolve has changed its name to Aquagear subsequent to the publication of this article.