A BRITISH scientist may have saved millions of lives after inventing an affordable method of purifying contaminated water.

Phil Souter's discovery led to the production of a sachet of powder, costing only 7p, that could dramatically cut death tolls in the developing world.

A total of 3.4 million people die each year after contracting diseases from polluted water.

Mr Souter and his team at Procter and Gamble, in Longbenton, Newcastle, hope to use the sachets to reduce that number.

The scientist, who lives in Longhorsley, Northumberland, is an expert in detergent research and has studied methods of removing chemicals from dirty laundry water.

His work led him to investigate how impurities could be removed from dirty water, making it safer to drink.

The end result is PuR, with a sachet treating ten litres of water.

Mr Souter said: "It disinfects and clears the water. The ingredients act as a dirt magnet by trapping impurities and germs.

"These fall to the bottom and can be removed by straining the water through ordinary cloth, which separates out the nasties leaving clear and purified water."

The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) has hailed the discovery, and world aid organisations have already taken two million sachets for use in places such as Iraq.

"To an organisation like Unicef, this is something which would be absolutely fantastic," said Unicef's North-East spokesman Louis Coles.

"Anything which improves drinking water, especially for vulnerable groups like children, is to be warmly welcomed.

"It is something which can be used across the world and could save millions of lives annually."