San Francisco-based LARQ is trying to change the way we drink water by creating the world’s first self-cleaning, reusable and rechargeable water bottle.
LARQ began in 2017 as a Kickstarter campaign by founder Justin Wang with a goal of $30K. Miraculously, in under 24 hours, the campaign raised a whopping $1.3 million, making it the largest hydration campaign on Kickstarter ever, and the process of producing the product began promptly.
UV-C LED lights, which are widely used in today’s hospitals for sterilization and last 40 times longer than conventional mercury-based UV technology, kills 99.99% of all the viruses and toxic bacteria. Simply push one for normal or water from the tap, or twice, for adventure mode for water from outside sources, to begin the sterilization process and in 60 seconds, you’ll have purified water. It doesn’t hurt to shake, shake, shake for those 60 seconds to ensure all of the water gets hit by the UV-C light at the bottom of the lid.
So why is this important?
According to National Geographic, “while nearly 70 percent of the world is covered by water, only 2.5 percent of it’s fresh. The rest is saline and ocean-based. Even then, just 1 percent of our fresh water is easily accessible, with much of it trapped in glaciers and snowfields. In essence, only 0.0007% of the planet’s water is available to fuel and feed it’s 6.8 billion people.”
Based on where you live in the world, access to clean water can be labor intensive or too expensive to obtain, and for those areas that do not struggle, water is often taken advantage of with the rate of usage doubling the rate of population in the last century. The United Nations estimates that by 2025, “1.8 billion people will live in areas plagued by water scarcity, with two-thirds of the world’s population living in water-stressed regions as a result of use, growth and climate change.”
“UV Light has been demonstrated to be a safe and effective method to disinfect water. UV is environmentally friendly, leaves no residuals and is microbicidal – effectively killing germs,” said Dr. David Weber, M.D., MPH Faculty at the UNC School of Medicine, in FoodBev.
On top of their transcendent technology, LARQ also donates a portion of its proceeds to 1% For The Planet, a global network of business, nonprofits and individuals working together for a healthy planet.
LARQ bottles are now available online in five colors – Monaco Blue, Obsidian Black, Seaside Mint, Himalayan Pink and Granite White – and retailed at $95.
via: FoodBev
