Individual water purifiers for the warfigthter
Warfighters need ample supplies of safe, drinkable water to fight and win on the battlefield. In cases where they do not have access to military-provided drinking water, they must rely on emergency individual water purifiers (IWP) to meet their drinking water needs. Current military-issued emergency water purifiers work slowly, and may produce microbiologically unsafe water. Commercial vendors have marketed alternate purifiers to the military, but none have been systematically tested by the U.S. Military. To remedy these shortcomings and to better protect warfighter health, the U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine’s (USACHPPM) Water Supply Management Program performed an in-depth study of commercial off-the-shelf individual water purifiers
in order to develop simple, direct recommendations for the warfighter. The study team assessed 68 IWPs produced by 27 different manufacturers. As part of this effort, USACHPPM developed specific scenariodependent recommendations for “best” IWPs. Beyond reducing water-borne microbial pathogens, a “best” IWP also had to be small and lightweight; purify quickly; purify turbid (cloudy) waters; not make the water smell or taste bad; be simple to use; and be durable under field conditions. The study team developed its recommendations through an operational
analysis, followed by a multi-attribute decision model analysis, which was performed by two multi-service, interdisciplinary, intradepartmental expert panels. The USACHPPM has presented the results of this study, as well as a web-based interactive IWP decision tool, at https://usachppm.apgea.army.mil/WPD/.
