After the 2004 Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina disaster in the U.S., Michael Pritchard, a water-treatment expert in Ipswich, England[1] began to develop the LifeSaver bottle after seeing that it took multiple days for water to reach refugees.

[2][3] Pritchard presented a prototype of the LifeSaver at 2007's DSEi London, where the product was named "Best Technological Development".

[3] Speaking at TED in 2009, Pritchard estimated that by using the LifeSaver bottle, reaching the Millennium Development Goals of halving the number of people without drinking water will cost $8 billion; while $20 billion would provide drinking water for everyone on Earth.

[5] In 2007, the LifeSaver bottle was tested by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the results found it to completely filter out all bacteria and viruses.

[6] The bottle's interchangeable filter can purify between 4,000 and 6,000 litres (1,050 to 1,585 gallons) before it stops working and needs to be replaced.