Choose The Perfect Berkey Water Filter

Do you know anyone who doesn’t enjoy drinking water? We’re sure they exist, but they’re few and far in between. Water constitutes over 60 percent of the human body and is essential for all bodily functions. If you look up the definition of water, here’s what it says:

Water – Noun – A colorless, transparent, flavorless, odorless liquid which forms the seas, lakes, rivers, and rain; and is the basis of the fluids of living organisms.

The words “flavorless” and “odorless” are key here. Water is life, and most agree that it actually doesn’t taste like much of anything. So what’s not to like?

When people complain about the taste of water, they are typically referring to the chemicals that have been added to make it safe to drink. These are chemicals such as chlorine, chloramines, and fluoride (which is actually tasteless). This is the water that comes direct from your kitchen faucet prior to being run through a home water filter.

An infrastructure that delivers safe drinking water to every home is one of the basic prerequisites of a civilized society. It’s something that’s existed in America for over 100 years in some cities.

But when you consider that there are approximately 1.2 million miles of underground water pipes in the US, it is inevitable that there will eventually be leaks, breaks, and contamination issues. After all, that is enough to run five pipelines from the earth to the moon!

The majority of this infrastructure was put in place in the 1940s, and this a big part of the problem. Prior to 1948, water supply was a state-run affair, and water treatment processes were haphazard. Fortunately, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1948 was enacted, and resulted in a vast improvement in the quality and safety of water in our country and in what was being delivered to our homes.

Even 70 years later, our society has continued to make improvements. We have a water supply that is regulated and mostly safe, with the exception of a few isolated incidents. And although some may believe that their water does not always taste great, our water supply is considered to be entirely safe for drinking.

However, as personal health awareness trends continue to grow, some folks want their water purified to a higher degree before putting it into their body. That is the reason why people are becoming more interested in having a home water filter, to remove any remaining contaminants or chemical tastes from their water.

Municipalities are coming to the stark realization that much of their aging infrastructure is requiring replacement very soon. Researchers at the University of Stamford have estimated that the federal government needs to find an almost unimaginable $3.6 trillion between now and 2020 to plough into the municipal supply network. If they don’t, they predict the contamination incidents due to failing infrastructure will only continue to get worse.

In mid-2017, USA Today ran a story that demonstrated that 1 in 5 American citizens have been exposed to unsafe drinking water due to municipal contamination issues at some point in the past decade. And the level of risk is the same whether you live in a Manhattan apartment or a Nebraska suburb.

It is easy to get carried away with the contamination stories, and the press loves it for selling newspapers, but even if we were to give the municipal supplies the benefit of the doubt, and accept that incidents of water contamination are rare, there is still the issue of taste.

Water mains are treated with chlorine and chloramines to kill off bacteria. It is carefully monitored and is well within safety limits, but it can also give your water that unpleasant chemical pool water taste.

We also have the potential for heavy metals such as aluminum and lead leaching from those 70+ year old pipe coatings into your drinking water. Flint, MI is a great example of this. Even when these heavy metals are within EPA safety limits, the continuous consumption of these can be a danger to the body.

In short, while chlorine and chloramines play a critical role in the water supply process, it is advisable to avoid it, and instead use a water filter to remove these and any other potential contaminants once the water reaches your home.

Many of the concerns we’ve touched on above has led to the huge increase in bottled water sales. But, did you know that majority of bottled water is simply tap water?

Some may say it tastes better than their tap water, but this is mainly due to the fact that bottled water companies work to ensure that the taste of the disinfection products used is reduced by the time it makes it into their final bottled water product.

An even bigger concern is that bottled water carries an immense environmental impact. Millions of barrels of oil go into the creation of bottled water. And, did you know that each bottle of water requires between 1.3 - 3 bottles of water to create. (depending on the data source) The vast majority of those bottles go into a landfill and/or end up in our waterways and oceans. It’s a sad sight to see.

Our continued consumption is rapidly creating an environmental catastrophe on a global scale.

When you use a home filtration system, you no longer need all those plastic bottles. So, your impact on the environment is reduced.

The average bottle of water costs around a dollar per gallon. With a Big Berkey water filter, your average cost is just a few cents per gallon. That’s more than a 95% savings. So, when you purchase a Berkey, remember that it’s a long term investment that pays for itself very quickly.

We understand why water filters are becoming increasingly popular, but why are so many households choosing Big Berkey over others on the market?

It’s because we are prepared to stand our filters alongside all the rest, showing consumers just how well the Berkey stacks up. Everyone likes transparency, so we also make all of our water testing results available for review.

There is a Berkey water filter system to suit every home and circumstance, so why not take a look at our full Berkey range to choose the ideal one for you.