Altered faucet is just the gadget we need to fight the global water shortage. The design of Altered ensures that water consumption reduces by a whopping 98 percent.
Altered converts the regular stream of water into an ultra-fine mist. The designers guarantee that despite its ephemeral appearance, the mist is quite effective for hand washing. In fact, its output is comparable to that of a conventional faucet.
Altered is a Stockholm-based startup and its CEO Johan Nihlén explained that the magic of Altered is the speed of the mist:
“The instant your hands get under the tap they are soaking wet, and the speed of the mist really makes you feel you’ve washed.”
A faucet aerator is not a new idea. However, none of the designs proposed earlier claim such an extraordinary reduction in water use. The design ensures easy shifting from a wider/stronger flow to the mist. The mist washes your hands or fruits in a kitchen sink more effectively because it completely moistens an object without wasting a lot of splashing water. In fact, the design of Altered is quite close to the Nebia shower.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njyFnL1YedY
However, it takes up to three minutes to fill a glass of water using the mist. Thus, a switch included in the faucet shifts the mist mode to the ‘Regular Saver Mode’ which is a concentrated flow yet saves 75 percent of water.
“In order for us to have a product that people would actually use, not one that only looks good on paper, we needed to figure something out. That is why we have the ‘regular saver mode.’ So you get the water you need when filling up glasses, pots, and pans. Having a higher flow in those situations isn’t really a problem, since the water is used instead of just slipping through our fingers and down the drain.”
Nihlén paid special attention to the design of Altered because he didn’t want it to look unappealing, like most of the eco-friendly products are:
“I think one issue with eco-friendly products is that you straightaway think that it’s going to suck using it and be horrible to look at like you have to sacrifice design and comfort for functionality.”
Altered will save material and installation costs significantly because it can readily attach itself to the existing faucets:
“There are already billions of faucets in the world. Being able to alter them, instead of throwing them out, means we save a lot of resources. But, maybe more importantly, it also makes it cheaper. And that means it is accessible to a lot more people. In the end that’s how we think we can have an as big impact on the actual water issue as possible.”
While you can get the usual faucet aerator for $4, Altered comes at a price of $44. The company has already met the goal of its Kickstarter campaign and will start shipping in December.
