Every episode ends with the same question: what are your three must-haves? And almost every guest says water.
So I went and found the person who thinks about water for a living.
Alison Hill is the CEO of LifeStraw — but her background isn’t gear. It’s public health and infectious disease, by way of reproductive health and HIV medicine. She came to the company to tackle waterborne illness, not to start a retail brand, and that changes the whole conversation.
We get to the practical part: how much to carry, when you actually need to filter, and how to choose a device without standing paralyzed in the store aisle. Then she tells me something I wasn’t expecting — about a partnership with The Carter Center, and a disease that’s gone from three and a half million cases a year to ten.
A note from Missy: I own about ten filtration devices. The thing that finally made this make sense for me was Alison’s advice to start with the trip, not the product — what am I actually doing this weekend, and what does that need? If the store aisle has ever made you put the whole thing in the too-hard basket, start there.
Episode Guest
Alison Hill — Chief Executive Officer
LifeStraw
Alison has spent her career at the intersection of public health, safe water and business — starting in reproductive health, then HIV medicine, then the infectious diseases that affect people worldwide. She has been building LifeStraw for seventeen years. The company’s roots are in public health: a partnership with The Carter Center on Guinea worm eradication that has supplied roughly 40 million filters.
What we cover
- Why most Americans assume they have safe water, and why that’s a misconception — aging infrastructure, lead contamination, boil advisories, wells nobody monitors
- Responding to Hurricane Helene in the town she grew up in
- How much water to actually carry, and why there’s no magic number
- What dehydration does to your decision-making — the part nobody warns you about
- Why the fix weighs almost nothing, and how that changes where you can go
- How to choose a filter: start with the use case, not the product
Transcript
Clean Water, and How to Make Your Own
The Parks Podcast, Episode 88 | Alison Hill, CEO, LifeStraw
Welcome and Why Everybody Says Water
Missy Rentz: I’m really excited to have Alison Hill here today. Alison is the CEO of LifeStraw. Alison, welcome to The Parks Podcast.
Alison Hill: Thank you so much. I’m excited to be here.
Missy: So every episode I ask guests about their must-haves — what are the three must-haves you pack for a trip to the park, or just outdoors? And nearly every person talks about water. So I thought you in particular are the perfect person to talk about hydration and water. What’s the deal with water? Why is everybody saying that’s the number one thing they need on their park visits?
Alison: Yeah, I’m not surprised, certainly. I always think about it this way: water is a really boring topic right up until the moment it becomes your biggest problem. And when you’re in the outdoor space, that’s one of the places where that really holds true.
Alison: Just as a little bit of background — I’ve spent most of my career trying to bridge an intersection of public health, safe water, and business, which is a strange marriage, but one that comes to life in a really powerful way. It generates passion and excitement around a boring topic like water — one that’s so critical to the health outcomes of people all over the world, and at the same time allows people like us to explore the outdoors in a way that feels a lot more free and uninhibited.
Alison: I’ve been building the brand for about 17 years. People know us as the little blue straw that you can just throw in your backpack and drink out of the water, but our roots are really in public health. My background is in infectious disease. I started my career in reproductive health, and then HIV medicine, and then started looking at what are the infectious diseases that impact people all over the world in a really systematic way. And water keeps surfacing to the top — whether you’re talking about somebody who lives here in the US and explores the outdoors, or somebody in Flint, Michigan who is just drinking from their household, or people living in places like South Sudan and Kenya. We’re all struggling with water in different but similar ways. And there’s a really beautiful tech solution and public health solution and retail solution that you can marry together to solve these problems all in one go.
Missy: I saw you speak at the Outdoor Economy Conference in North Carolina last year. So often you come into outdoor brands and they care — they absolutely care about the outdoors — but there’s also this bottom line thing. And as I was listening to you, I felt like with LifeStraw, getting access to public water around the world is the number one priority for the brand. Oh, and by the way, we also happen to sell some straws. It’s really fascinating how your mission is clean water.
Alison: Yeah. Very simply, we built a company and a team of people and work and innovation and design and technology around something really simple, which is that safe water is a human right. It’s easy to say something that simple, but it is certainly in conflict with much of the way that the world engages. When you start with a global problem — safe water as a human right, safe water as a threat to public health — and then you build a business around it that supports a solution, not just for an industry or a marketing campaign, but to solve access for communities all over the world that all deserve this human right, it brings something very different to your tech, your product design, and the way you come to market.
Alison: That was a particular situation. LifeStraw does a lot of emergency response work, and I was talking about our experience responding to Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina. While I’ve been in emergency response for most of my career, that was the first time I was responding to a really devastating emergency that hit my hometown, my family and my community that I grew up in. So it was incredibly personal to me, and it was the first time I had really publicly talked about it.
Safe Water Is a Problem Here, Too
Missy: Oh, it was so special. And it is devastating there. You definitely hear of natural disasters — most of my audience is US-based, and I think there are so many of us who take for granted that we all just have clean water. But in this country, that’s not true. We don’t all have clean water.
Alison: That’s true. I think most Americans assume we have access to clean water, and I feel like news cycles have started to suggest that’s a misconception — but it is a misconception. Safe water isn’t just a problem somewhere else. It’s also a problem here, with communities in the US dealing with aging infrastructure, lead contamination, boil advisories, certainly natural disasters, wells that aren’t routinely monitored.
Alison: We take for granted that we have safe water in this country, and we don’t. And we don’t have it equitably in this country. We have communities who are hit harder than other communities. It’s in day-to-day life, in what you get out of your tap. In what areas of environmental pollution you may live in. Where you’re doing backcountry exploration. And it’s certainly post-emergency, in how quickly you get safe water restored — or whether the community and the state can even afford to do it.
How Much to Carry
Missy: I think proper hydration and proper hiking shoes are the top things you need to go outside. Sometimes people will say, “I don’t know how to be outside. I don’t know how to hike.” And I’ll say, put on your shoes and take a water bottle. So what advice would you have for people as they’re thinking about going outdoors when it comes to their hydration? How much do they pack? What do they carry with them?
Alison: I think it’s a really important question, and one people underestimate when they’re first going into the outdoors — or even if you’ve been an outdoor person your whole life. There’s no magic amount of water that a person needs, or an easy equation to look at, because it depends on the person, the weather, the terrain, the intensity and duration.
Alison: So instead of complicating things, my rule is to plan conservatively. Know how long you’re going to be out there. Know where your reliable water sources are, and if there aren’t any, carry more than you think you need. But always carry a tool that allows you, when you find a water source, to have water when you need it.
When You Need to Filter
Missy: When I went out the first time — because I wasn’t inherently an outdoor person, I had to become one — the idea of filtering water was so intimidating to me. And now I’m much more comfortable with it. I give your team a lot of credit, because they’ve walked me through so many of the devices you all have. But when would you need filtration, and how do you prepare for that?
Alison: I think you start with where you’re comfortable. If you want to carry water, by all means carry water. But things can happen when you’re outside, and you need to understand what the tools and technology and devices are that allow you, while you’re out — if you’re out longer than expected, if you get lost, if it’s a lot hotter than you expected, or it’s a more intense hike and you need to stay hydrated — what you can use, and what you can safely use.
Alison: One of the things that’s core to LifeStraw is that we use very simple technology that doesn’t rely on batteries working, or extreme pumping, or anything like that. It’s very simple technology that can remove bacteria and parasites, and with our purifiers it can also remove virus. If you’re new to the outdoors and you’re not comfortable filtering yet, you can put it in your backpack as a backup. It’s incredibly lightweight. It can sit at the bottom of the backpack.
Alison: But I encourage everybody to understand what the options are, and to understand that different technologies do different things, so you can work out what works best for you. This isn’t one size fits all. You need to think about your use case — am I filtering for myself? Is it a backup? Am I also carrying water? Am I filtering for a family? Am I filtering for a rafting trip with 20 tourists? Whatever it may be. And then you build your tool around that, or you select your device around that. But it does make water safe that you’re drinking out of backcountry water sources, and it takes a while to get comfortable with that.
What Dehydration Does to Your Judgment
Alison: At the beginning, carry water. I just always encourage people to have a backup that they can treat or filter water with, to stay hydrated. And in the outdoors, staying hydrated is just so critically important. You can go a long time without food. You can’t go a long time without water.
Alison: And when you get dehydrated, you get not just thirsty and headaches and fatigue and things like that — it can actually alter your decision-making. You can make decisions that aren’t the best decisions. And if you want to go do things where carrying that amount of very heavy water prohibits you from doing it, filtration is just such an easy way to get through that barrier.
Choosing a Filter: Start With the Use Case
Missy: I bet I have 10 different filtration devices, and it’s overwhelming when you go to the store. So when people are listening to this and wanting to venture out, what are they looking for when they go to get a filtration device?
Alison: I tell people always to start with the use case rather than the product. If I’m backpacking and I want the lightest possible backup, a LifeStraw Personal — the original straw that you can fundamentally drink out of a source — is what’s going to fit what I need for that activity. If I’m hiking all day and I know I’ll be refilling along the way, I take a water bottle or a squeeze bottle with a filter inside. If I’m camping with my kids or with a group of friends and what I care about is volume, I take a gravity system.
Alison: But there are so many systems with LifeStraw and also other brands that are built for versatility. If you’re a hiker, you can go with a bottle filter. If you’re a backpacker and you’re really comfortable with the straw only, that’s perfect for you. But if you’re somebody like me — who this weekend is taking my kids camping, and next weekend is spending three days on the trail backpacking, and in a month from now is doing a kayak trip — versatility also works. One of the LifeStraw products we’ve designed that’s been very successful is a straw filter that fits in a squeeze bottle and fits in a gravity system, and you can get it all at once, so you have something at home that fits your use case.
Alison: But I think what’s most important, to make it usable and enjoyable to use, is really to look at what do you need it for, before you have in mind what product do I need.
Missy: That’s a great idea. What other advice would you give to someone who is just exploring being outside, when it comes to their hydration and their experience outdoors?
Alison: I think there are two bits of advice. One is just don’t underestimate the importance of staying hydrated and drinking while you’re outdoors. It’s so critical to the experience, to making it enjoyable, but also to making it safe — to making the best decisions while you’re outside and really exploring.
Alison: And from the very beginning, when I said that water is the most boring topic in the world until the moment you need it and it becomes your biggest problem — I think the peace of mind of always having a solution with you, so you never have that moment of it being your biggest problem, is incredibly critical. So one of the pieces of advice would be: don’t underestimate it, and pack conservatively in terms of having a solution no matter where you are.
The Carter Center and Guinea Worm
Missy: Such good advice. I mentioned that LifeStraw seems to be so much about making sure everybody around the world has clean water. Tell me a little bit about the impact that you all have made in the decades that you have been around.
Alison: LifeStraw really started its history through a partnership with The Carter Center on Guinea worm eradication. We developed a really simple tool that could remove Guinea worm larva from water, and we’ve worked with The Carter Center for several decades. We provided them about 40 million filters toward eradication, and moved the needle. In the ’80s there were about three and a half million cases of Guinea worm a year. Last year there were about 13 cases globally. We’re getting really close to eradication, and that’s something as big as a moonshot. This will be the first disease ever eradicated without the use of a vaccine.
Missy: Wow.
Alison: Something as simple as a water filter straw — and a water filter for households — has been able to accomplish this. When I came into the company with my background in infectious disease, it was to tackle waterborne illness, not to start a retail brand.
Missy: That’s really an incredible legacy for a company your size. What’s next? Anything new that’s coming out?
Alison: We have a really exciting new innovation coming out in spring of next year that is actually a squeeze bottle that’s a purifier. So it’s not only going to take out bacteria and parasites, it’s also going to give you an extra level of protection against virus. That allows you, when you’re spending a long time on the trail or you’re traveling internationally, to just have that added level of protection.
Speed Round
Missy: So we end each episode with a speed round of questions — just answer with what first comes to mind. What is your earliest park memory?
Alison: I grew up in western North Carolina, deep in the Appalachian Mountains. The Blue Ridge Mountains were basically my backyard, so my entire childhood is my best memory. There are state parks around, local parks around, national parks around. I lived my life outdoors growing up, so it’s core to who I am.
Missy: And what made you love the parks and public lands?
Alison: When I’m outside exploring the parks and public lands — the feeling of being small, in the best way possible. I grew up in the mountains, so I’m a mountain person in general, and mountains are really good at reminding you that your inbox is not that important. And how big the world is, and how much there is to explore and engage in. Moments of feeling small and part of something really big are what drive me as a person.
Missy: And what’s your favorite thing to do in a park?
Alison: I love to hike. I’m a hiker. I will climb and hike and dig and explore anything that looks like I shouldn’t be there. Anything that looks like a challenge, I will take on. But hiking is my first and true love.
Missy: What park have you yet to visit that’s on your bucket list, and why?
Alison: There are two that are top of mind right now. One is the Gates of the Arctic in Alaska, and the other is the Fjord State Park in Alaska. By the time I was 30, I think I had been to and worked in 30 countries. By the time I was 40, I’d been to and worked in 40 countries. I’ve been all over the world. I have a bucket list of really amazing places that nobody really has on their bucket list. But interestingly, Alaska is a place I’ve never been, and it’s certainly on my to-do list in the near future.
Missy: What are three must-haves you pack for a park visit?
Alison: Water. A LifeStraw, certainly. And I would say layers. I am perpetually convinced weather forecasts are overly optimistic, and I always make bad decisions about what I think the weather’s going to do. So layers and a LifeStraw are my two go-tos.
Missy: What’s your favorite campfire activity?
Alison: I just had this conversation with my kids, and it was a really fun one. I think my favorite campfire activity is just stories from people. I love to hear stories. Sometimes we talk about the last places we’ve explored. Sometimes we talk about what may be on our bucket list, or how we felt when we got through a particularly challenging part of a hike that day. I love the story component of campfires. That said, I’m an early-to-bedder, so I also love the going-to-bed part of campfire stories. As long as we start early enough, I’m all in.
Missy: Are you hiking with or without trekking poles?
Alison: I actually hike without trekking poles. I spend a lot of time in Switzerland because we have an office there, and everybody hikes with trekking poles in Switzerland. I want to love it, I really want to do it, and I’m just so much more comfortable scrambling and having my hands and arms available when I’m hiking that I haven’t yet figured it out. I just did a 14er in Colorado, Quandary, and everybody hiking near me, around me, past me had hiking poles and I didn’t. I did have that moment of, am I really this much of an amateur? But I think it’s just my comfort zone.
Missy: What’s your favorite trail snack?
Alison: I love salty. I am not a sweet person, and I like spicy. Maybe this is going to feel really North Carolina to you, and it’s nostalgic — embarrassingly, my comfort food when I’m out on the trail is pork rinds. Chili pork rinds.
Missy: What’s your best animal sighting?
Alison: I feel like it’s a cheat, because I’ve traveled all over Africa.
Missy: Oh, yeah. That is a cheat, but I love it. Tell us anyway.
Alison: Lemurs in Madagascar. One of my heart moments. I actually just got back from Costa Rica — up in the jungles, I had my sales meeting there. Super fun. I took the whole team rappelling off waterfalls and into the jungle up near the volcano, and we got to see some sloths. That was a really nice moment.
Missy: That’s special. What’s your favorite sound in the park?
Alison: Crickets.
Missy: And what’s the greatest gift that our parks give to us?
Alison: Gratitude.
Missy: Alison, thank you so much for being part of the podcast, and for making me think differently about something that I carry every single time I go outside. I really appreciate you being here.
Alison: It was such a fun time to have this conversation with you. I love talking about it, if you can’t tell. But I’m really excited that people just get outside and explore in the best but the safest way possible.
Missy: Absolutely. Thank you very much, and that’s it for today’s episode. Until next time, we’ll see you in the parks.
Music for The Parks Podcast is performed and produced by Porter Hardy. Follow us @TheParksPodcast or visit TheParksPodcast.com.