Super easy. Just fill, replace the lid and drink. To drink, sip or suck water through the filter. Avoid excessive squeezing. The filter purifies water as you drink — no pumping, iodine tablets, or chemicals required.

AnswerWater-to-Go bottles have a "Scoop-and-Go" design that delivers pure water in seconds. Just fill from any non-saltwater source, replace the lid snugly, and drink. The bottle filters water as you drink. There is no need for chemicals, UV light, pumps or plungers.

Before first use, fill the bottle and turn it upside down so the filter is fully submerged for at least 15 minutes. Then gently squeeze out the water until it runs clear. That's it — your bottle is ready to use.

If used regularly, the filter only needs to be activated this once. You don't need to reactivate it before every use. If your filter dries out completely (usually after several weeks of not being used), just submerge it again for 15 minutes to wake the technology back up. You can safely reactivate the filter up to three times and get multiple trips out of a single filter.

If you're new to filter bottles, the flow rate feels slower than a regular water bottle. That's the filter doing its job — capturing contaminants as you draw water through it. Our bottles deliver around 15–18 ml per second, which is a good guzzle rate once you're used to it.

The lid probably needs to be tightened a bit — give it a gentle extra twist. When drinking, gently suck to pull water through the filter. Don't squeeze the bottle.

Water-to-Go bottles are designed to purify water as you drink. They're not designed to fill another vessel. You can easily get water from the bottle to brush your teeth, but filling a glass or pot is not recommended.

Dishwasher safe: Active bottles, Bioplastic bottles, and Classic 75cl bottles.

Hand wash only: Go! 50cl bottle and lid.

In all cases, please remove the filter before cleaning. The filter itself is not designed to be flushed or put through the dishwasher.

Powders will be captured by the filter and reduce its lifespan. If you want to use your bottle with powders, unscrew the filter from the lid and use water from a safe, drinkable source. When you need to filter water again, screw the filter back on. Any residual powder in the bottle will be caught by the filter, so having a spare on hand is a good idea if you switch back and forth often.

Water-to-Go's unique 3-in-1 filter offers extreme protection from water-borne illness. In lab tests, the filter captured even the smallest of viruses like polio, which can be as small as 0.03 microns. In all, Water-to-Go filters viruses, bacteria, parasites (including giardia, which is found in many New Zealand rivers and streams), chemicals, pesticides, heavy metals (lead, arsenic, chromium), and microplastics. Water-to-Go has been proven in independent lab tests and by explorers who trust it on extreme adventures worldwide.

The filter combines three technologies in one:

1. Mechanical filtration — an extremely small pore size (down to 0.7 microns) that physically blocks contaminants.
2. Activated carbon — embedded within the membrane (rather than glued together), which traps chemicals and removes bad tastes and odours.
3. Electropositive nanofiltration — the membrane carries a positive electrostatic charge. Most contaminants are negatively charged, so anything not blocked by pore size or absorbed by carbon is attracted to the membrane like a magnet and trapped.

No other water filter technology combines all three approaches at this price per litre. The membrane was originally developed from technology designed for NASA's space programme.

The mechanical pore size is 0.7 microns. But pore size alone doesn't tell the full story for Water-to-Go. The positive hydrostatic charge in the membrane attracts and traps contaminants far smaller than the physical pore — including viruses as small as 0.03 microns (like polio). It's the combination of the three technologies that gives the filter its performance, not just the pore size.

Yes. Recent tests show Water-to-Go filters reduce chlorine to below detectable levels. The filters also use alumina nanotechnology together with carbon to filter out fluoride. You can taste the difference — particularly noticeable in chlorinated town supply.

TDS is the total amount of organic and inorganic material — metals, minerals, salts, ions — dissolved in water. Not all TDS is bad: calcium and magnesium, for example, are beneficial.

Our filters are designed to remove harmful microbiological contaminants, harmful heavy metals and chemicals — not all TDS. The positive electrostatic charge in the filter attracts and traps harmful negatively charged elements, while beneficial positively charged salts (like calcium and magnesium) pass through. Water-to-Go has never claimed to remove all TDS, and the filter intentionally leaves the good stuff in.

No. Fresh water only. Water-to-Go does not desalinate.

While the filter could be used to filter urine in extreme emergencies, Water-to-Go strongly recommends against filtering and consuming urine.

No — the filter will not work effectively if it freezes, because freezing damages the membrane. If your filter does freeze, fully defrost it by filling the bottle with lukewarm (not hot) water before using it again. You can still fill the bottle with snow or ice in cold climates, but keep the filter itself protected — in a bag, sleeping bag, or close to your body — so it doesn't freeze.

Filter life is determined by the volume of water that passes through it, not by time. Each filter:

• Treats around 200 litres of water.
• Replaces approximately 400 single-use plastic bottles.
• Lasts roughly 3 months at typical use (filling the bottle 2–3 times a day).

If you're filtering water with heavy silt or sediment, filter life will decrease.

There are two ways to tell:

1. Email reminder — if you bought your bottle from watertogo.co.nz and signed up to our list, we'll email you a reminder around the three-month mark.
2. Taste and smell — the carbon component is calibrated to last around 200 litres. After that, the filter will still remove bacteria, cysts, and other microbiological contaminants, but the water will gradually return to its original taste and smell. That's your sensory cue to swap the filter.

If you're travelling somewhere with particularly unsafe water, we recommend changing the filter every two months as a precaution.

Three years in the original sealed packaging. The nanotechnology is activated by contact with water, so before first use, keep your filter dry and in a cool place.

No — filter life is based on the litres filtered, not the calendar. If your bottle has been sitting unused and the filter has dried out, just reactivate it: fill the bottle, turn it upside down to submerge the filter for 15 minutes, then gently squeeze out the water until it runs clear.

Replacement filters for the New Zealand and Australian market are available directly atwatertogo.co.nz. Buying locally means faster shipping and no overseas duty.

Water-to-Go filters are designed to be disposed of sustainably. The plastic casing and end caps go into your kerbside plastic recycling. The grey filter membrane itself is compostable and can go on your compost heap to biodegrade

Active and Classic bottles — FDA-approved BPA-free plastic.

Bioplastic bottles — made from ethically harvested sugarcane (except the lid and filter shroud). The sugarcane bottle is produced with around 60% less energy and 40% fewer greenhouse gases than regular plastic bottles.

All Water-to-Go bottles are fully recyclable, and the filter membrane is compostable.

Yes. All product components — bottles, lids and filters — are BPA-free, and all materials used are approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Protecting people and the planet are our two guiding principles.

The bottles are designed to be compact enough for a standard backpack side pocket or bike cage:

• 55cl Eco Active — 21 cm tall, 6.5 cm wide at the base, 115 g empty (with dry filter).
• 75cl Eco Active — 24 cm tall, 7.1 cm wide at the base, 138 g empty (with dry filter).
• 1 litre Eco Active — 27.5 cm tall, 7.9 cm wide at the base, 185 g empty (with dry filter).

Yes — every Water-to-Go bottle comes with a filter already attached to the lid, ready to be activated.

Replacement filters work out to a fraction of the cost of bottled water. A single filter treats around 200 litres, so even at retail price the cost per litre is just a few cents — far cheaper than buying single-use bottled water at a supermarket or airport, and without the plastic.

Single-use plastic bottles are one of the worst sources of plastic pollution in our oceans. Only around 12% of plastic bottles are ever recycled — the rest end up in landfill or waterways, harming wildlife and ecosystems.

A single Water-to-Go filter replaces around 400 single-use plastic bottles. Across our customers worldwide, we conservatively estimate Water-to-Go has replaced over 220 million single-use plastic water bottles. Our Eco range is now made from plant-based materials such as sugarcane waste rather than fossil-fuel-based plastics, so the bottle itself is part of the solution, not the problem.

No — Water-to-Go is a British company with over 12 years in market and more than 500,000 happy customers worldwide. Our mission is to provide safe drinking water without the single-use plastics that damage the environment. We design, manufacture and distribute personal water purifier bottles that filter water-borne contaminants which can cause illness, protecting:

• Travellers heading overseas.
• Outdoor adventurers — trampers, campers, mountaineers, anglers and hunters.
• Families concerned about the quality of their tap water.
• Anyone preparing for emergencies and natural disasters.

Two things make Water-to-Go different:

• Better protection for people — unlike most filter bottles, Water-to-Go also filters dangerous viruses such as hepatitis.
• Better protection for the planet — in addition to a filter that replaces 400 plastic bottles, we offer the only sugarcane-based bioplastic water filter bottle on the market.

Yes. You can view our test results atour testing page. Water-to-Go has been independently tested on three continents by internationally renowned laboratories in London, Florida, Bangalore and China.

Yes. We can produce custom bottles featuring your logo. We've done this for several large organisations and charities able to commit to an initial order large enough to cover the design and tooling costs of branding the bottle.

For more information, please contact sales@watertogo.co.nz.