Sterilizing drinking water with silver is a very old method and is even mentioned in ancient Egyptian writings. Disinfection of water by dosing silver ions into water is completely harmless to humans and animals. It does not change the waters physical or chemical properties nor the taste, smell or color. The silver ions do kill bacteria, germs, and algae that are present. Since its introduction in 1970 thousands of ships have installed it and due to its simple design and high quality many of these first units are still in use today.