Garden shed becomes lab for invention of water filter

17:02:20 4th February 2010

A life-saving water filtering device has been developed in a garden shed in Scotland.

Jerviston resident Jim Rae has invented the STAG Filter Unit after spending six years in Africa witnessing people dying due to severely polluted water, motherwelltimes.co.uk reports.

He claims his new invention, which has been found to filter more than 99.9 per cent of harmful bacteria from raw sewage, will save thousands of lives in Africa.

Mr Rae told the news provider: "Clean water is what every villager I have ever met needs, however, as a result of contamination, three or four children die every week just from dehydration as the polluted water makes them ill."

Charities have shown interest in the device, and trials will take place at four villages in Malawi and Kenya beginning in March.

According to Charity:Water, contaminated water and lack of basic sanitation is the cause of 80 per cent of all sickness and disease.

Of the 42,000 deaths that occur every week from drinking unsafe water and a lack of sanitation, 90 per cent are children under five years of age, according to the organisation.