Have you heard of the LifeStraw? It’s a small water filter designed for one person that removes virtually all bacteria and parasites from unclean water. It has saved lives all over the world during natural disasters, helped areas with unclean drinking water, and even won awards for how effective it is.
But of course we had one question for the LifeStraw: can it make pee drinkable? If it’s truly such an amazing device, can it make drinkable water during the worst possible circumstances?
We put it to the test, so read on to see if a LifeStraw will need to be part of your zombie apocalypse kit.
Before we get started, here’s what a LifeStraw looks like:
▼ Unfortunately it does not currently come in curly-straw form.
The device is actually quite amazing. It can filter up to 1,000 liters (264 gallons) of water, enough for one person to last a year. Of course, we won’t be drinking nearly that much, unless our brave Japanese taste-tester P.K. Sanjun really has to go.
▼ Here he is, prepped and ready with one cup of pee for testing. How was it…?
▼ Mmm…still tastes like pee!
Unfortunately this taste-test ended up being a failure. While the LifeStraw may remove all parasites and bacteria, it does nothing about salt. It cannot be used to make ocean water or other salt water drinkable, and since urine typically has a high salt level, it’s going to be like drinking from a salt shaker.
Also the LifeStraw does nothing about taste either. It’s still going to taste like pee no matter what. That may be an issue.
Here’s the video of P. K.’s taste-test, if you want to see human suffering in action:
It seems like the search will have to go on for a portable device to turn pee into drinkable water. Until then we’ll all just have to settle for drinking cans of princess urine, going to urine cafes, and playing urine video games. It’s a wonderful, urine-filled world out there, and we’ve only just started to drink it all in.
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