Emergency

The UV-H₂O-Box is for…
WHEN THERE ISN’T ANY TAP WATER

In the Pacific Northwest we call it our “earthquake kit”. In Houston or New Orleans or Puerto Rico, you may think of it as what you need to get through a hurricane or flood. If you are in the Midwest, it would go in your tornado cellar. Wherever you live, it’s a good idea to be prepared to get by on your own for a while when disaster strikes.

Picture this scenario: a magnitude 9.0 Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake strikes the Pacific Northwest. Electric lines are down and water mains are broken. Restoring normal services takes many days, weeks or even months (as in Puerto Rico after hurricane Maria). What water is available isn’t safe to drink.

The UV-H₂O-Box model WB-GX incorporates a hand-cranked generator to light a 14 Watt germicidal lamp, using UV-C radiation to treat water from any source for microbiological contaminants. Turning the crank for one minute treats one gallon of water. UV water treatment is used at industrial scale in many municipal water systems; the UV-H₂O-Box applies the same method at the household scale. If the lights come back on before normal water service is restored, the UV-H₂O-Box can also be powered by an AC adapter. The UV-H₂O-Box can’t take the mud out of muddy water, but once you’ve filtered out the dirt you can see, the UV-H₂O-Box will sanitize the microbiological contaminants that you can’t see.