Abstract: A drain valve and lift rod device comprises a drain hole screen or filter (10) at the lowest portion of a lavatory (20), a plug (30) disposed below the top of the drain hole screen removably inserted into the drain holes (11), a lift rod (40) engaged with the plug and extending downwardly therefrom, and a control bar (50) for operating the left rod through a pivotable actuating rod (60). When the control bar is lowered, the plug is moved upward to be inserted fully into the drain holes; and when the control bar is moved upwardly, the plug is moved downwardly and removed from the valve closing position in the drain holes. The drain holes are a plurality of tapered or conical circular cross-section openings (11) and the plug has a plurality of similarly shaped stems (31) which when inserted fully into the circular openings, respectively, prevent water contained in the lavatory from draining.