The American company Vital Lyfe earned a place on TIME's annual Best Inventions of 2026 list for its portable water purification system Access. The device turns seawater, brackish water and contaminated fresh water into water fit for drinking and is designed for use where clean water is unavailable.
Access works on the principle of reverse osmosis: a pump feeds water under high pressure onto a membrane that removes salts and impurities. The water then undergoes ultraviolet treatment that destroys bacteria and microorganisms.
According to the manufacturer, the system purifies up to 45,5 litres of fresh water per hour and up to 22,7 litres of seawater per hour, removing more than 99,5% of dissolved salts. The device weighs 11,3 kg, fits into a case measuring 508 × 230 × 205 mm and runs on a built-in battery or on a power source of about 200 W.
An important detail: Access does not make water out of air. This is an error in some retellings: the device draws water from an external source — the sea, a river, a lake or another natural body of water — and purifies it.
TIME included Access in the list as one of 300 inventions of 2026; the ranking does not imply a first, second or last place — all positions are equivalent and are distributed across categories.
The device is already beginning to be used in practice. Access is intended for yachtsmen, sailors, off-road travellers and people living outside centralised water supply networks. It is also being considered for rural and remote areas, as well as for emergency situations.
According to Vital Lyfe, the US Army and Navy are testing Access under official research agreements. For now these are trials, not mass adoption. In addition, the company is collaborating with Green Wave Products to use the system to provide clean water to communities and support sustainable agriculture.
