Larq Water Bottle: A Sustainable Self-Cleaning Water Bottle

Plastic bottles, although convenient, are incredibly harmful to the environment. Reusable water bottles are better, but bacteria and mold can easily build up, causing them to stink and rendering them useless. Cleaning them is an annoying and tedious process.

Larq solves both problems while also removing the middle man from the cleaning equation.

Made famous from the reality television series Shark Tank, Larq is a company based in San Mateo, California that produces durable, sustainable, self-cleaning water bottles. The stainless steel water bottles make use of Larq’s signature PureVis technology, which uses nontoxic ultraviolet (UV) light to disinfect the bottle. It keeps the bottle clean and stink-free.

Although not everything is filtered out, the water tastes noticeably cleaner. The PureVis technology kills much of the harmful bacteria and removes the chlorinated taste from tap water.

Larq’s research on “inhibiting the growth of aqueous heterotrophic bacteria in water samples” shows the bottles are able to eliminate 99.8% of bio-contaminants such as E. coli and salmonella in just one cycle.

Larq is also very versatile. It can be used for everyday purposes, but can also be used on hikes or long periods of travel such as vacations.

The insulated version is kept cold for 24 hours and hot for 12 hours. Whether it’s ice water or hot coffee, Larq functions both as a water bottle and a thermos.

The UV cleaning technology is also incredibly easy to use. There is also a phone app to track its charging progress, purifying and keeping track of water intake.

The bottle comes with a micro USB cable to charge the cap, which can be plugged into any normal socket. It can run for about a month on a single charge.

The bottle runs on its own every two hours, but can also be activated manually by pressing the button on the top of the cap. The cap glows when charged and activated. A full cycle runs about a minute.

Larq is lightweight and comes in five different colors: monaco blue, obsidian black, seaside mint, granite white and himalayan pink.

Larq comes in two sizes, 17oz and 25oz. The smaller size costs $99 and the larger size costs $118. There is also a non-insulated version that costs $89 to $98, depending on the size. There are two other versions, one with a swig top and one with a flip top, but they do not have the PureVis technology.

Caps are also sold separately along with other purifiers and filters from Larq.

Larq may be an expensive investment, but its utility and convenience makes it a unique and innovative product.