Portugal advances water treatment with new portable purifier and clarified desalination plant legacy

Portuguese water‑technology firm Waterseen introduced the Safe&Go device, a portable system that automatically filters river and lake water, removes up to 99.9% of contaminants, and incorporates a solar‑charged battery, lantern and power bank. The unit sells for €89.90, is already available in Portugal and the company plans to expand to the Netherlands and Germany.

Research on the Porto Santo seawater desalination plant reveals that, while it began operating in 1980 and was the first reverse‑osmosis unit in Europe, it was not among the world’s first three desalination plants overall. Earlier facilities used thermal processes, and only five reverse‑osmosis plants existed worldwide at the time. The plant’s historic role lies in pioneering industrial reverse‑osmosis technology rather than being a general early desalination example.