I'm gonna get me one of these for the holiday backpack.
meanwhile I hope the boys at DSO can make these for our own equipping
Approximately 8,000 MSR MIOX Purifiers have been shipped to the US Department of Defense for delivery to various branches of the armed forces. In addition, the purifiers are available at sporting goods outlets such as REI and Campmor. The MIOX Purifier is a miniaturization of the MIOX capital equipment used for treatment of municipal water. Over 1,000 MIOX capital equipment units have been sold to date, with a combined treatment capacity of over 1 billion gallons of water per day. MIOX Corporation and Cascade Designs Inc. (CDI) signed a license agreement in 2003 to manufacture and distribute the miniaturized MSR MIOX Purifier to the military and consumer markets. Prototypes of the MSR MIOX Purifier were field tested in 2002 by the U.S. military forces in Afghanistan and other locations.
The MSR MIOX Purifier occupies only 14% of the space required by a typical portable water treatment filter and is ¼ the weight. The sleek and compact design is an attractive feature for backpackers or travelers trying to minimize packing volume and weight. The disinfectant solution does not leave an aftertaste at standard doses, unlike chlorine or iodine tablets. Each dose will treat anywhere from 1/2 liter up to a gallon of water.
The device operates by converting a brine solution to a mixed-oxidant solution via electrolysis. Each purifier utilizes two 3V lithium camera batteries, common salt and a tiny electrolytic cell. The purifier will treat approximately 200 liters of water on one set of batteries. The purifier can be used over and over, making water treatment an inexpensive procedure after the initial purchase. An important feature of using simple salt as the disinfectant source is that salt has an infinite shelf life, so the purifier will still function even if stored without use for a long period of time. (The batteries have a 7-10 year shelf life.) The disinfectant will inactivate a number of common pathogens, including E. coli, Giardia, and Cryptosporidium, as well as chemical and biological warfare agents. The purifier has passed the EPA Guide Standard and Protocol for microbiological purifiers, achieving more than 10 times the level of inactivation required, even in the EPA's "worst-case" water.
