Making the undrinkable, drinkable…making the unthinkable a reality.

The Pinheiros River in Sao Paulo flows 16 miles through a city of 20 million residents. Once described as slowing to an ooze, the river is a landmark for all the wrong reasons.

LifeSaver^® technology has transformed the jet black liquid of the infamous Pinheiros River to clean, drinking water. This transformation is huge in a city where 20% of the population lack access to basic sanitation. That’s 4 million people without clean running water and access to a sewage system living in sprawling neighbourhoods.

In August 2015, LifeSaver systems demonstrated what is possible through the application of ultra-filtration technology with one of the dirtiest, most contaminated rivers in the world. The portable water purifier has filtered and purified water which contains waste deposited by factories as well as discharged sewage from bordering neighbourhoods. With their in-country partners Dynamis, Icon LifeSaver had the river water tested with the independent ‘Water Lab’ testing house. Water Lab, offering technical and laboratory analysis, concluded that Pinheiros River water filtered through a LifeSaver Jerrycan was safe to drink, using guidelines according to the national law 2914.

Since 1992, authorities in Sao Paulo have been working on a project to clean up the Pinheiros River, but as the LifeSaver system team visit in August 2015, that project still has a long way to go. LifeSaver systems visited the Pinheiros River ahead of their participation in the Fitabes Rio Water show, held October 4th – 8th 2015, organised by the Brazilian Association of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering.