While there are a number of core reasons why the Berkey water filter is one of the fastest growing home water filters systems in the filtration industry, one of the most convincing is the economics associated with owning one. Once the initial berkey system purchase is made, customers are happy to learn that they do not need to worry about changing filters every month, every 6 months, or even every year for that matter. This means less hassle and less money leaving their pocket. The flagship black berkey filters that come standard with every Berkey water filter system last for 6000 gallons per set of 2. At 20 gallons a week, this equates to approximately 5 years, and at 10 gallons per week, these filters will last approx 10 years. When you do the math, a Berkey water filter user only pays 2 cents per gallon. In this multi-part series, we're going to compare how these numbers stack up against the many other ways that homeowners get their drinking and cooking water.

Berkey Water Filter vs Bottled Water

Most of us are very aware of the many downsides associated with bottled water consumption: from the inconvenience of having to purchase bottled water regularly; to the negative impact bottlers have on local water resources and the surrounding communities; to the environmental impacts of used bottles ending up in landfills, on the sides of our roads, and in our oceans; and finally to the high financial costs.

• Let's assume a 12 ounce case (24 bottles) of bottled water costs $5.
• That $5 in bottled water equates to 288 ounces or 2.25 gallons.
• On average, this equates to $2.22 per gallon of water when using bottled water.

If you'd like to become more aware of the downsides to bottled water consumption, please read our article review on "Tapped", Exposing the Bottled Water Industry.

Berkey Water Filter vs Water Delivery Plans

Water delivery plans are still relatively popular with Poland Spring 5 Gallon jugs being one of the most notorious. This is somewhat surprising as only just 6 months ago, Poland Spring jugs were reported to contain Bisphenol-A (BPA), an endocrine disrupting chemical that leeches from certain plastics.

• We used data from the most popular Poland Spring water cooler plan.
• Their most popular plan delivers 4, 5 gallon jugs per month at a cost of $33.
• This equates to a typical water cooler plan costing an average of $1.65 per gallon of water.

As you can see in both examples above, at 2 cents per gallon, the Berkey water filter is much cheaper than both purchasing bottled water and the water delivery plan. Another way to interpret this data is that the Berkey water filter is 80-110 times cheaper per gallon of water. Combine this data with the fact that the Berkey water filter is more convenient and has significantly less impact on the environment and the decision becomes rather clear. Coming soon, in the 2nd part to our berkey water filter economics series, we will be covering how our water filters match up against some popular water filter brands.