Kurt Avery, founder and president of Sawyer Products, joins Mike Nemer to discuss how Sawyer’s lightweight, long-lasting water filtration is used in disaster response and underserved communities. They also explore related global health work, including malaria prevention, and how partnerships and donations help scale impact worldwide.
Key takeaways
- Sawyer’s portable filters weigh about 3 ounces and are designed for rapid deployment and long-term use.
- One duffel bag of filters can support clean water access for roughly 20,000–30,000 people in field deployments.
- The conversation highlights reported impact of clean water delivered to ~40 million people worldwide through donated and distributed systems.
- Durability is a core theme: filters can last up to ~15 years, with a cost-per-person estimate as low as ~30 cents for 10 years of service (as discussed in the episode).
- Beyond filtration, the episode touches malaria prevention efforts and a cited 67% reduction in malaria cases in certain military applications using Sawyer repellents.
In this episode
- How Sawyer’s filtration works in practice (deployment, maintenance, and training support)
- Why eliminating the need to boil water reduces pressure on trees and fossil fuels
- Scaling through nonprofit partnerships and disaster response organizations
- What “disease-free water” claims mean in the context of the product’s use and testing (as described by the guest)
- How Sawyer’s Foundation model supports distribution in dozens of countries
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