Business and the Environment

A SCOTTISH engineer has developed a water recycling system designed to bring relief to households in England constantly faced with water shortages.

The domestic unit, designed by instrument engineer Jim McCool, is now being manufactured at a factory in Dunfermline.

The Aqua Genius device will be welcomed in England and Wales, where 2.3 million households have water meters.

McCool spent five years developing the process, and began working on the idea in his garden shed.

To meet the development costs he raised #200,000 from a variety of sources, including #35,000 invested by British Steel (Industry), and funding from the Royal Bank of Scotland, Lanarkshire Development Agency and South Lanarkshire Council.

Since last month, Aqua Genius units, costing about #400, have been on sale to the public through Ideal Home catalogue.

McCool believes that the units, which can fit under the kitchen sink, and can recycle up to 70% of a household's tap water, will have a ready market in the south, where water bills have risen sharply and water rationing is common.

The recycled water is held in a storage tank, and can be used to water gardens and wash clothes. The inventor is already working on an improvement which will allow the recycled water to be used in baths, or for showers.

''The average water bill in England and Wales is around #400, and we expect our units to reduce these bills by around #200,'' said McCool.

The Aqua Genius uses an advanced ultraviolet irradiation system to filter and clean the water.

''Ultraviolet irradiation kills the bugs in the water, and I have patented a device which concentrates the dosage, as it would normally take a six-metre length to supply what my unit does with a length of less than 18 inches,'' explained McCool.

Aqua Regenerators launched commercial units based on the same principal at the beginning of the year, aimed at wheelie-bin cleaning companies.

''Recent legislation made it illegal to empty contaminated water from wheelie bins down street sewers. The effluent must now be stored in tanks and disposed of in an environmentally friendly way,'' said McCool.

These units, costing around #2000, have proved popular and McCool is now trying to raise #100,000 to develop a factory version of the system.

''My factory machine will clean water on-line as it is being used, when normally it is put into storage tanks,'' said McCool.

He pointed out that industries such as fish-processing, which has massive water bills, could benefit greatly from such a cleaning system.