Our Story
Horrified by the scenes shown in news broadcasts following the two natural catastrophic disasters of the Tsunami (Indian Ocean, 2004) and Hurricane Katrina (New Orleans, 2005), British Inventor Michael Pritchard set out to create a portable water purification device capable of providing a sustainable source of safe, clean drinking water wherever and whenever it was most needed. He received an MBE for his innovation in 2013.
Consequently, the world’s first portable water filter - the LifeSaver Bottle - was created in 2007, capable of removing the smallest known waterborne viruses. From there, large scale versions, the C1 and C2 were developed to supply safe drinking water to communities and villages on a daily basis, while the smaller portable options, Liberty and Wayfarer were designed for consumers with a passion for the outdoors.
As LifeSaver’s involvement in the Humanitarian sector grew, LifeSaver began to work in partnership with Oxfam to develop a new product which would be even more suited to the needs of people in the wake of a natural disaster, or displaced communities.
This partnership led to the creation of the LifeSaver Cube. Using the same ultrafiltration technology as the bottle, the Cube stores up to 5 litres of water and provides a family of 4, daily safe drinking water for a whole year. The Cube’s distinctive shape is specifically designed to be efficiently stacked for shipping as many as possible on to pallets in emergencies. And it's small enough for children to use.
LifeSaver become established as an effective solution to safe drinking water issues in the Humanitarian sector and subsequently, the LifeSaver Bottle was chosen by the British Army for their personnel operating in the field, beyond regular base supplies.
With a growing range of products designed to be portable, durable and capable of filtering thousands of litres of water with a single cartridge, LifeSaver water filters also attracted more varied audiences in the retail sector. Outdoor enthusiasts, campers, backpackers, travellers, overlanders, adventurers, explorers and preppers have all found a LifeSaver filter which perfectly suits their individual needs, often via a combination of our products.
As the popularity of off-grid camping and overlanding has grown, partly thanks to the Covid outbreak in 2020, the bestselling Jerrycan provides enough water for a family group to enjoy while exploring.
"This great British product was selected by the Army after an extremely stringent technical and commercial assessment, the conclusion of which was that it was selected as the most efficient and cost effective way to produce safe drinking water."
Senior Military Advisor
Minister of Defence, Burma Camp, Ghana
Since then, LifeSaver has expanded its technology and expertise into a wide range of ‘Best In Class’ light, portable water purification products, all of which are manufactured in the UK and extensively used and trusted worldwide by the outdoor adventure communities, governments, humanitarian and disaster preparedness organisations and NGO’s including Oxfam, UK Aid, UK MOD (Ministry of Defence ) and the US DOD (Department of Defense).
Check out the this Ted Talks video which shows our LifeSaver Bottle in use.
Clean, safe drinking water represents hope and life which is why for us, everything begins with that first drop of ultra-purified, safe drinking water !
Hear the LifeSaver origin story in its founders’ own words:
