The Safe Water Trust is a not-for-profit charitable company limited by guarantee, with the single objective to develop and provide a solution for safe drinking water to people in developing countries.
The origins of this objective are in the Rotary organisation, and the trust was set up in 2009 to carry on the good work done by The District 1030 Aqua Filter Trust, which pioneered the application of membrane filter technology for safe water in developing countries. The Safe Water Trust is supported by Cleadon and District Rotary Club (District 1030).
John Griffith, a member and past president of Cleadon and District Rotary Club, volunteered to maintain the project momentum by offering to redesign the Aquafilter. Working with the Rotary Club of Wirksworth in Derbyshire, John re-designed and developed the Aquafilter which now fits into an Aquabox (a box of humanitarian aid products primarily used for disaster relief).
Together with his wife Gill, John organised the testing and field trials for the new Aquafilter, initially revisiting a rural village in Ghana where Gill and John had first met when they were working with Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO). With the success of the trials, John set about refining the Aquafilter design, making small improvements and returning with updated filters for further trials.
Aquafilters have now been operating in developing countries for more than 4 years, providing clean drinking water for thousands of people.
