Dave Gee: Life from Right Field

Good to hear the reporters involved in the recent "Filtergate" story are all back fit and well and 100%.

3News reporter Beverly Lockhart and freelance cameraman Joe Morgan both fell ill after sampling the water from a new iodine-based filtration system during a recent story.

Its hoped the filter system, designed by a Christchurch inventor, may be used in remote areas with badly polluted water supplies.

Inventor Russell Kelly mixed water from Christchurch's Avon River and with sewage water, before putting it through his filter system.

He then invited members of the news media to try the processed water. However, after four of them became sick in the days following, fingers were pointed at the filtered water.
There's different versions of stories, depending on who you talk to...

Some tv shots suggest some of the sewage water may have dripped down onto the tap nozzle while Mr Kelly was refilling the filter. The other theory is that the water drunk by the journalists could have become contaminated, because Mr Kelly didn't disinfect his hands after handling the dirty water.

NZ Herald journalist Jarrod Booker needed a trip to the doctors after he became ill. State TV reporter Blair Norton also required medical treatment, but claims he had a viral - rather than a bacterial - infection, so may not be blaming his illness on drinking pooey water ;-)

* Stuff: Journalists ill after 'filtered' water test
* NZ Herald: Low-tech filter turns muck to drinking water