Its ingredients include ferric sulfate, bentonite, sodium carbonate, chitosan, polyacrylamide, potassium permanganate, and calcium hypochlorite. Each of the ingredients are commonly used in municipal water treatment plants. The ingredients have been specially formulated in single-use sachets to work quickly on small volumes of water. The water treatment process combines precipitation, coagulation, and flocculation with disinfection. It aggregates and facilitates the removal of suspended organic matter, bacteria, viruses, parasites, and heavy metals in treated water. One single-use packet contained sufficient calcium hypochlorite to leave a residual chlorine concentration of 3.5 mg/liter when added to 10 liters of demineralized water. When added to contaminated surface water, the mean chlorine residual was 1.5 mg/liter.

Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 69(4), 2003, pp. 411–419

We reverse engineered a municipal water treatment plant, so something that costs tens of millions of dollars we can make for three and a half cents.

We reverse engineered a commercial power plant, so something that costs tens of millions of dollars we can make for three and a half cents.

Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage
Fact Sheet: P&G Purifier of Water
(formerly known as PUR)

Can remove significant quantities of heavy metals including arsenic (Shaw Environmental
Inc., 2006, Souter et al., 2003), lead and chromium (Allgood, 2004)

Packet needs to be used within 3 years of manufacture