In our city, for some weird reason, they still think water fluoridation is a good thing. Considering it's not even Calcium Fluoride and is instead Hydrofluorosilicic acid, a byproduct of the Phosphate fertilizer industry, you'd think that would tip them off that it's a bad idea. Not to mention that in all studies they only ever use calcium fluoride to show that it it's only benefits are with use directly on the teeth, not in the digestive system.
Regardless, we ended up in a pickle. Not wanting to expose our young children to the toxic additives in our water, we had to find a good filter. We researched and learned we had three options, Distillation and Reverse Osmosis, both of which remove everything 100%, including essential micronutrients and leave the water slightly acidic, or we could get a Berkey.
We chose the Berkey for many reasons, for one, it uses zero electricity. As long as we have gravity we can filter water, great for camping, emergencies or power outages. The Berkey is inexpensive considering the cost of the other two options. We paid about $330 for our Big Berkey, with two charcoal filters and two Pf-2 fluoride filters. As I mentioned, the other two types of filters remove essential nutrients and leave the water 'dead'. There's plenty debate over whether this is an issue, some feel that as long as you have a good diet and consume alkaline foods it doesn't matter, others say the micronutrients and alkalinity is crucial. We decided it mattered to us.
The Berkey is also a cinch to clean and is very low maintenance in general. We have had a little trouble with the filters, as the city water here is so full of crud and hard minerals it would clog up the filters pretty bad. Since then we just scrub them good when we clean it and then it's back to filtering great again.
The taste of Berkey water is amazing. I was never one to drink water, it always turned my stomach, tasted like blood and metal, bleh. I learned to tolerate it over the years, even enjoy it, perhaps if I had had a Berkey back then I would have enjoyed it sooner! Nowadays I drink water all day, it's often my beverage of choice, still better with a bit of lemon though.
If you're in search of a filter I do recommend the Berkey, we love ours! My mother loved our Berkey water so much she got her own as well.
Berkey has come out on top in every comparison and test I've seen for a reason! :)
~Don't worry, drink Berkey :]
