Life h2o Australia trains the Philippines Defence Force

In October 2023, Life h2o Australia travelled as defence civilians to Fort Magsaysay Military Training Area and 51^st Engineer Brigade, Quezon City, Philippines with the Australian Army 1st Combat Engineer Regiment (1CER) as part of the 2023 ASEAN Defence Ministers Summit.

Life-Port 100 WPDS units were delivered by HMAS Canberra earlier in the year during Indo-Pacific Endeavour, with each unit producing 100 litres of clean drinking water per hour from any water source.

Participation in this defence cooperation program initiative was a great opportunity to showcase our latest systems, strengthen strategic relationships with our allies and train over 100 soldiers from the Armed Forces of the Philippines in the use of Australian defence industry-sourced Life-Port deployable water purification and desalination systems (WPDS).

Australian Defence Force Exercise Crocodile Response

In May 2023, Life h2o water purification units were tried and tested at Australian defence force training ground, Mount Bundey.

With clean, drinkable water a vital part of disaster relief and humanitarian aid, our 100L/hour water purification units were well received

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Australian Defence Magazine Life h2o Australia crack defence market

Darwin-based company Life h2o, a startup with a handful of employees, has cracked the Australian defence market with some of its innovative water purification equipment being exported to the Philippines.

Company founder and managing director Charley Feros said there were perhaps just two other companies in the world working in this space.

“We have developed a system that successfully addresses known capability gaps within the military,” he told ADM at the Indo-Pacific maritime exposition in Sydney.

“Thanks to our targeted user-based design approach and collaboration with our Army combat engineers we are much more advanced, having created fit for purpose systems for use in military operations, humanitarian aid and disaster relief efforts,” he said.

Australian Army combat engineers and special forces have acquired the company’s Life-Port WPDS (water purification and desalination) units which are currently in service.

Life h2o Australia was recently contracted to provide systems, training and maintenance to the Philippines military by way of the Australian Defence Cooperation Program.

“The successful delivery of the Philippine project has us well placed to assist other allied nations in the Indo Pacific with Fiji, PNG, Timor Leste and Indonesia all extremely interested in applying this technology,” he said.

Feros said the Defence Strategic Review also presented an opportunity for Life h2o Australia, with 1st Brigade in Darwin becoming a more amphibious focused brigade for deployment in littoral environments in the Indo Pacific.

He said to date Life h2o Australia’s primary focus had been on research and development and bringing their military grade deployable off grid WPDS units to market.

He said to date Life h2o Australia’s primary focus had been on research and development and bringing their military grade deployable off grid WPDS units to market.

2024 and beyond will see the company further expand its production capacity, he said.

Phil Sutherland, Life h2o Australia’s BDM and Senior Defence Adviser and Australian Army veteran has played a central in engaging with Defence which has resulted in five WPDS variants, developed with the input of the end users.

The smallest man portable unit produced up to 30 litres of potable water per hour was developed for Australian special forces, while a larger unit can produce 150 litres per hour.

Beyond man portable options are truck and trailer mounted systems producing up to 2000 litres per hour, well-suited to amphibious operations and civil emergency services.

Under consideration are even smaller units and modular system configurations, sufficient for small, dispersed teams in hot climates and austere environments. This could take be backpack or jerry can configuration.

“We are very proud of our progression to date in providing a sovereign capability to the Australian Defence Force and our allies, and our ultimate goal is to become a homegrown prime contractor specialising in products and services that provide water security, sustainability and survivability for our warfighters,” Feros said.

Credit: Max Blenkin

Life h2o Australia discusses water purification in Bali

Life h2o Australia was honoured to be invited to spend a morning at Dunia Bintang school on our recent trip to Bali, Indonesia. What a great little community and a blessing to be able to share in their day. Our 4 year old daughter joined in the class lessons, shared a very special lunch with them (some of these kids have never tasted McDonalds before) and even learnt a little traditional dancing.

With water quality and toilet facilities poor across Indonesia, Life h2o Australia took the opportunity to discuss our water purification systems and how we can assist. Our donation to the school meant that they could begin work straight away on their new toilet block. Pretty soon the long drop will be long gone, replaced with flushing toilets and a sewerage treatment system.

We have now formed strategic partnerships with a number of organisations in Indonesia that assist villages and schools in regional and remote areas. Moving forward Life h2o Australia aims to improve water quality and sanitation, targeting areas of most need, with the ultimate goal of increasing health standards.

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