I’ve only just discovered an incredible, lifesaving invention: the Drinkable Book. It was invented by Dr. Theresa Dankovich, who came up with the idea for her PhD research project at McGill University in Montreal.

It sounds deceptively simple – a piece of paper infused with silver nanoparticles, which costs pennies to produce. The silver particles in the “coffee filter”-like paper have been found to reduce the bacterial content of contaminated water by 99.9%, making it comparable to our tap water. A user simply has to tear half a page out of the book, place it into the filter box (which is also the case for the book) and pour the water through. The filtered water comes through the paper and ends up in the bottom of the box, ready to drink.

This isn’t all. As a major reason for deaths from dirty drinking water was found to stem from a lack of knowledge about what causes the problem, the paper has doubled as an educational tool. Edible inks have been used to print the whys and hows of water sanitation, explaining in simple terms how to keep water clean.

The product is still being tested and refined, with input from the communities that will end up using it. An attempt was made to crowdfund the project last year, and although it raised over $11,000 it fell short of the $20,000 target. A new crowdfunding campaign started two days ago with a goal of $30,000. If you would like to support the project, you can do so by visiting their Indiegogo page.