A New Kind of Paper for a New Kind of Book

I have a lot of books. Collected over the years, my books move from house to house with me. They line my walls. They are transmitters of information. Some are special, possibly one-of-a-kind. Others could easily be replaced, save the annotations I’ve made in the margins. They get used for reference. They are objects to admire.

I read something today that challenged my idea of what a book is or could be. The project is named ‘The Drinkable Book’ and is a collaboration between the marketing communications network DDB and the organization Water is Life. Water is Life’s mission is to provide clean drinking water, sanitation and hygiene education to schools and communities in developing nations. ‘The Drinkable Book’ is the newest tool in their toolbox.

Developed in partnership with scientists and engineers from Carnegie Mellon and the University of Virginia, “The Drinkable Book’ is a manual that teaches safe water tips, printed in food grade ink and in a variety of languages. What makes this book revolutionary is the paper it’s printed on. Each page of the book is a special filter paper coated in silver nanoparticles, capable of removing 99. 99% of the water-borne bacteria count during filtration, including pathogens like E.coli, cholera and typhoid. The book has 48 filters and a single filter can last up to 30 days. It costs only pennies to make.

This book is like other books I’ve known. It is pleasant to look at and carries important information. It belongs to a rare group of books though, books that are revolutionary. Over three million people die from water-borne diseases each year and a book that teaches water safety and provides the means by which to purify water stands to change many lives.

Watch a Video that Shows How the Filter Works

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DDB Worldwide: Revolutionary Clean Water Product Introduced