The water industry is big business. Not only are corporations making a killing off of selling bottled water we see portable water pitchers, tap water filtration systems, showerhead filters, and even whole house water filtration systems marketed to us in abundance. Because it is such a huge business and the hype is everywhere it can be easy to try and push the noise aside and stick to our tap water. After all, here in developed countries the water is some of the safest and cleanest the world over right?
We have cheap accessible water flowing into our homes every day so it can be downright aggravating to hear how we need to buy more “stuff” or buy bottled water to ensure we have clean and safe water to drink. Add to this the fact that in recent years we have heard reports that bottled water is basically the same stuff coming out of the tap and it is easy to see why some people don’t know what to believe anymore.
These issues aside though we do have some serious issues facing our water supply. We take city governments at their word that the city water management systems are safe and up to date but we all know how that worked out for the city of Flint. City’s clean and amend their water supplies with “helpful” chemicals such as chlorine and fluoride, neither of which we want to be drinking. The toxins and pollutants in our soil, air, and environment are plentiful and they make their way into our groundwater and freshwater sources. While our tap may indeed be safer than that found in a third world country or a city/town with crumbling infrastructure it is absolutely okay to demand cleaner drinking water. If you have the means, it is smart rather than elitist.
In my home we have a modest budget. We can’t afford a whole house filtration system right now and I don’t care for under the sink systems because you waste money on expensive filters when you are filtering water for washing the dishes.
We also didn’t want a cheap filter system you can buy at your local grocery or big box store because if you look closely, they don’t filter much.
We chose a Berkey®. They have had a reputation for being the highest quality, most powerful, and most rigorously tested gravity-fed water purification products available anywhere for many years now. They are powerful enough to purify both contaminated municipal tap water as well as untreated, questionable water from harsh sources such as lakes, rivers, streams and ponds. This makes them wonderful for filtering your everyday drinking water and cooking water from your tap and also ideal for taking with you while camping to filter water in nature. They are completely portable.
Berkey® systems equipped with Black Purification Elements remove greater than 99.999% of viruses and greater than 99.9999% of pathogenic bacteria, while also removing or dramatically reducing protozoa, trihalomethanes, inorganic minerals, heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, VOCs, petroleum products, perfluorinated chemicals, rust, silt, sediment and radiologicals. You can even buy additional fluoride filters. No other portable water filtration system is going to even come close to the power this one.
The set up was quite easy. The only issue we had is that our first red food coloring filter test failed. We had installed the filters inadequately the first go round and had to make adjustments. The second test was a success and our Berkey filtered the red food coloring completely out of the water.
The only other issue was a personal one. I felt like the water tasted “too clean”, perhaps like it needed some minerals for taste. I really cannot describe it but after I added some pink Himalayan salt to my glass of water for electrolyte purposes I no longer felt this was an issue. Of course I was used to drinking water with minerals added for taste due to the fact that I fast almost daily. I was happy to find a solution to this small problem.
I am now confident that we are drinking the cleanest, safest water we can be. As a mom, that is always a good feeling.
