It's quite telling when those responding in the thread feel like
access to water that won't make you die is something that is
political. What happened to wanting better quality of life for people that exist outside one's immediate awareness? I don't understand why something looking like an advertisement campaign is necessarily a bad thing. Was there one particular product being advertised as the sole solution to the problem of poor access to safe water? Why is advertisement suddenly a dirty word? Is it being confused with 'commercialism' or 'consumerism' somehow?
Trying to make it look worse, how exactly? The counterargument using the cow urine example is pretty misleading, the bacterial load of urine is quite small, as opposed to fecal matter, which can contain up to HALF ITS WEIGHT in bacteria, and is a well-known vector for the transmission of pathogenic (non-beneficial, disease-causing) bacteria. I mean, does it look worse than say, the
Ganges?
Aquaponic, here's a few other innovations in addition to the Life Straw that have been created:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/indepth_coverage/africa/design/index.html?type=flash