It's small but it's mighty: a sticker that guarantees water is safe to drink before it's consumed, protecting people from harmful and potentially fatal pathogens.
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And it is the invention of Mangerton man Dr Martin Butson, founder of the charity The Water Gift, which distributes the SAFE sticker to people who are among the 2.2 billion worldwide without access to clean water.
Dr Butson was moved to find a solution to unsafe drinking water after attending the World Water Week conference in Sweden in 2017, where he learnt of the immense need and saw big corporations selling products for on-selling to developing countries.
But he wanted to provide something for free and turned to solar disinfection of water, in which UV rays from the sun kill harmful bacteria, viruses and microorganisms.
Dr Butson said it was used in around 50 countries, but the problem was that health authorities simply advised people to leave water out in the sun for six hours before drinking.
However, whether the water ended up actually disinfected was dependent on such factors as cloud cover and time of day, he said, so people would drink the water, still get sick, and stop using that method.
Dr Butson was inspired to find a cheap and easy way to verify that water had received adequate UV exposure to render it safe.
His invention, the SAFE sticker, contains a square of film that changes colour as it is exposed to UV rays.
The sticker is affixed to a clear bottle of water and once the film has become darker than the sticker surrounding it, the water is safe to drink.
The invention was modified from a film Dr Butson, who has a background in radiotherapy, invented to measure the amount of radiation cancer patients received.
His son Ethan, then aged two, played with it in the backyard one day - and while he destroyed about a year's worth of work, Dr Butson discovered from this that it was sensitive to UV.
Over the years he has modified the film and the SAFE sticker is the culmination of that work.
"We just want to help people and save lives," Dr Butson said.
Taking the stickers to people in need
Soon Dr Butson and Darryl Gillespie, who is involved in The Water Gift, will travel to Cambodia and the refugee camps on the border of Myanmar and Thailand to distribute thousands of stickers.
Cambodia is where the charity, founded in 2022, has done most of its work; in its early days, the COVID pandemic meant trials in various countries fell through, but the south-east Asian nation was one place they could reach.
But there was a huge need there, Dr Butson said: around Siem Reap, a city most famous for its proximity to Angkor Wat, the water quality sat at five out of 100.
By comparison, he said, Mumbai's water quality sat at 25.
"Once we arrived there, we knew it was definitely the place to be," Dr Butson said.
The Water Gift has since had stickers used in places like Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Panama, Kenya and Malawi.
An organisation called Safe Water for Every Child Myanmar has now asked the Water Gift to distribute stickers to refugees of what Dr Butson calls the "forgotten war", who are fleeing the militia and cannot even boil water to disinfect it lest smoke give away their locations.
Students from the Illawarra Grammar School (TIGS) - where Dr Butson's wife Elisa and children attended - have spent time after school each day this week helping make tens of thousands of stickers for Dr Butson and Mr Gillespie to take overseas.
Year 9 student Emma Denley volunteered because she had the time one day and thought it would be a good opportunity to help, and found she really enjoyed it so came back.
"I think [the sticker] is a really great idea, and I think it can help so many people," Emma said.
Bailey Wood from year 10 got involved after head of senior school, Nick Hackett, told students about the opportunity.
"I had to help, because it helps these people with their water," he said.
Mr Hackett said the school was "thrilled" to lend a hand.
"It's innovative, it's creative, it's simple," he said of the stickers.
For Dr Butson, the assistance of the TIGS students is a huge help for a small charity with a team that numbers just him, Mr Gillespie, his wife Elisa, and son Ethan.
"For us it's just an amazing blessing that TIGS has stood up to the plate and made the stickers," Dr Butson said.
People can follow along with the Water Gift's work overseas by following the charity on Instagram at @thewatergift.
Natalie Croxon
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
