The STAG prototype has been tested at the Glasgow Scientific Laboratory. Feeding virtually raw sewage into it the unit removed 99.999% of all contaminants out. Design Features - a manual pump which creates a pressure strong enough to pass the water through a filter (or membrane). This will later be adapted to suit situations where there is a power source (solar, wind or national grid energy.) The finished product is independent and not an integral part of the hand pump mechanism. The rationale is that should the borehole break down the filter system should be flexible to be relocated easily and applied to a stream or water harvesting system.

Any equipment installed in a rural setting in Africa needs to be of an appropriate technology. The vast majority of places which need water are remote and in the majority of African countries much of the population lives in rural areas. This is therefore where vital and urgent action is required and the reason why we have aimed our project at being a manual application in the first instance.

The equipment will be easy for the villagers themselves to maintain and our design has been achieved with this factor built into it. The filters life will be determined by field studies but we anticipate a minimum of a one year life before it needs to be cleaned and refitted. Each village will receive a complete set of tools and spare filters. For the testing period we shall have a technician visit on a regular basis collecting data and refreshing the water team in each village. Data collected will be health statistics, water condition, mortality rates plus of course the condition of the equipment. Data shall be compared in conjunction with the local health officials Monitoring Indicators.

We shall produce a critical path each year and every calendar month we will measure that against actual progress Classes on water related subjects will be held. The N.C.I.C. (National Construction Industry Council) have already made this arrangement with our engineer who will take the classes. Our information will be gleaned from this activity in conjunction with the N.C.I.C. and passed to Government. In conjunction with the government we will set up a paper which will record details of the present condition and numbers of patients who have contracted stomach related water borne diseases.

View STAG locations in a larger map