Whenever I visit my parent’s house, the first thing that always catches my eye is their humongous and primitive looking water purifier with a bunch of stones the size of my fist that are supposed to filter water. ,
It’s actually the second water purifier they bought upon the “suggestion” of my father’s physician, saying you can never be too sure about the quality of the water being sold at those water purifying stations.
It also scared me a bit because when I saw it a couple of months back, it actually looks like there’s already a pond (complete with living organisms) inside as some of the grey stones already turned brown, which is perhaps an indication that it’s time to replace them after giving them clean water for the past five years.
Now they have no choice but to buy from those stations as getting a new purifier can be quite expensive and they couldn’t find an authorized service center to get replacement parts.
Since then I’ve been on the lookout for a new water purifier that can easily be maintained by my senior-aged parents and doesn’t look as intimidating as their older ones.
Fortunately, I got invited to the launch of
Unilever’s
Pureit Excella, a safe and easier way to purify water, without the menacing look of older purifier models.
Unilever’s Pureit is actually is the largest selling brand of in-home water purifiers in the world, and after years of just reading about it, the brand is finally available in the Philippines!
Safe drinking water: a global concern
Despite the advancements in technology, it’s a sad fact that in developing countries, over 884 million people, including 16 million Filipinos, have no access to clean and safe drinking water, what’s even scarier is that around 80 percent of diseases are water borne.
In 2010, the United Nations declared that “access to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation is a human right essential to the full enjoyment of life” and one of the Millennium Development Goals is to halve, by 2015, the proportion of population without sustainable access to safe drinking water—but that is much easier said than done.
Accepting that global challenge, Unilever’s technical experts across global research centers in the United Kingdom and India worked with technology partners, government bodies, and scientific and public health institutions to develop
Pureit - an effective and affordable solution that provides access to safe, clean drinking water.
Today, Pureit helps protect more than 45 million lives, and is the world’s largest selling in-home water purifier brand, creating a global footprint across 13 countries including India, Brazil, Mexico, China, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri-Lanka, Nigeria and Kenya.
In the Philippines, the Department of Health revealed that waterborne diseases remain a severe public health concern with about 4,200 deaths and 770,000 cases of illness each year from water borne diseases since only one in every five households in 24 provinces gets water from unsafe and questionable sources.
This explains why most Filipino households, including my family, do not trust tap water for drinking, forcing us to rely on those expensive drinking water from water refilling stations, which we don’t even know where they are getting as well. Roughly 20% of urban households boil water taken from the tap, which is however an even more expensive and riskier practice.
“Central to Unilever’s mission to make sustainable living common place all over the world, we are launching Pureit to provide Filipino families with access to guaranteed clean and safe drinking water, as certified by both international and local health institutions like the Department of Health and the Philippine Public Health Association,” said
Brian Duruin, Pureit brand manager.
How does Pureit work?
Pureit Excella converts potentially dangerous tap water into drinking water—that includes rain water, water from deep wells as well as tap water--by purifying water twice, giving users complete germ protection.
The first level of purification consists of three simple yet valuable layers of protection where water initially passes through the
Germkill Processor that disinfects the water of almost all bacteria, viruses and germs. Next, it passes through the Advanced Microfiber Mesh that filters out precipitates such as visible and invisible dust and dirt particles, as well as metallic impurities. Lastly, the Carbon Polisher removes pesticides, chlorine, and odor from the water, before it goes to the second level of purification.
The second level purification is performed by the Micro-charged Membrane, which further purifies the water by removing any remaining parasites or bacteria—assuring families of protection against diseases. The end product is clear, fresh, and natural-tasting water that’s free from harmful agents.
As a tabletop device, using Pureit Excella also eliminates the hassle of buying expensive water from water refilling stations and the associated risk of contamination through unclean containers or storage rooms.
But perhaps the most impressive part of Excella is that it is actually the only non-electric water purifier that meets the microbiological safety norms criteria of the US
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the regulatory body with the most stringent standards for safe drinking water all over the world.
Oh and did I mention that it only costs less than the price of other bulkier water purifiers out there? Purchasing a Germkill Kit (which is only the part you need to replace) costs just P1,000 and is already good for P1,500 liters of water.
I’ve been using a Pureit Excella for a few weeks and I could say I’ve never appreciated the simplicity of just pouring tap water into my Excella, instead of having to call the nearest refilling station, waiting for half an hour, and lifting that heavy 5 gallon container just to enjoy a glass of water.
Just a quick note though, don’t be alarmed by the faint plastic-like or chlorine-like smell of the water the first few times you use it as the scent goes away after a few water cycles. Just do the initial water cycle five times before using the Excella.
The Unilever PureIt Excella costs P5,000 and now available at Abenson. For more information about Unilever PureIt, log on to http://www.pureitwater.com/PH/.
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