water filters

[dwest]

We've lived in a number of places with poor quality water. I usually use an under the counter filter system but I have found the Brita and Pur to be decent tap filters as long as you keep up with replacement cartridges. For hiking we use a Katadyn, none of that MSR junk, or a bottle of bleach with a stick to accurately measure drops of bleach.

[Denny]

[tansy]

Brita man for 20 years here. My mother is almost 92, and only drinks tap water. They put flouride in our water here
Tansy

[Jayhawk]

If we had sulphorous water, I'd filter it to...but other than that, I've rarely come across bad tap water.

Water should have taste. All this talk of purifying so it tastes like "pure" water is, IMHO, pure marketing. Sure it's still liquid, but you lose all the minerals found in water and I'm not all that sure it's that good for you. I do know, after keeping fish for 34 years, that the vast majority of fish do better with tap water (dechlorinated and dechloramined, though) than with reverse osmosis, filtered or distilled water. The fish need those minerals as well. Water, filtered or distilled, is simply not a natural substance - it's bland and boring.

In addition, I'm a bit dubious about the materials filters are made of, the filter media itself, and even the plastic pitchers used like Brita. My tap water's annual report is sent to my house. I'm good with it - the numbers are good. If I start filtering my tap water, I don't get an annual report letting me know the water quality, trace chemicals, etc.

Eric

[Jack]

I got a PUR one today, one that attaches to the faucet itself and can be turned on or off (such as when washing dishes, you don't need purified water for that).

[DCrom]

If we had sulphorous water, I'd filter it to...but other than that, I've rarely come across bad tap water.

Second that. But a lot of urban supplies, though perfectly safe to drink, taste less than wonderful. Not "bad", just . . . not really good.

The best drinking water I've ever tasted was the untreated, unfiltered, slightly hard water we got out of a well on the family farm.

Now I live in a city (San Jose, CA). We have a charcoal filter under our sink (with a separate tap for our refrigerator's water line) because we don't like the chlorine and ??? taste that unfiltered city water gives. I don't worry about drinking it unfiltered, or using it to water the garden, or bathing. But the few dollars spent on a new filter every few months to improve the taste of the water we drink is well worth it, IMHO.