PUR faucet water filter/are they good enough for DC water?

[Anonymous]

I used to bring my 5 gallon glass containers to water purifier shops to get filled up but I don't have time for that these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you're concerned about fluoride, get a flouride tooth rinse. I have actually read some things suggesting that flouride is sketchy, even though it makes me feel like Citizen Kane... You know, they're after my precious body fluids and poisoning me with flouride! Maybe he was onto something.

Interestingly enough, this was all on the Colbert Report last night. I haven't read his research directly, but there was a scientist on there talking about this exact issue, and he mentioned the Potomac directly, and said that there IS a discernable effect on children already, with an increase of 7 percent in the amount of boys with undescended testicles. Damn! I don't know how many cases of this there are in the first place, but that was a sobering number.

My husband and I were going to get a filtration system for under our sink, but it seems like that might not be enough. You all think Spring Water is better? Maybe that's the way to go. We have been trying to be so good about not using plastics. You know, that's another thing, though, are the spring water bottles safe enough, given the fact that they are encased in soft plastic, which may also be a concern? Do you use glass bottles?

Don't forget the general from Dr. Strangelove!

OOPS! That's what I meant! Total pregnancy brain.....

Citizen Kane = Rossseeebuddd
Strangelove is the anti flouride body fluids dude!

[Anonymous]

DrinkMore water is a local company that delivers purified water. In addition to the standard polycarbonate bottles, they offer 5-gallon glass and BPA-free plastic bottles.

[Anonymous]

Costco has the Watts Premier Zero Waste Reverse Osmosis System Zero Waste RO System on sale for $249.99 (after $40 off) until 7/26/09.

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?whse=BC&topnav=&prodid=11066392&ec=BC-EC877-CatHome&pos=18&lang=en-US

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Costco has the Watts Premier Zero Waste Reverse Osmosis System Zero Waste RO System on sale for $249.99 (after $40 off) until 7/26/09.

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?whse=BC&topnav=&prodid=11066392&ec=BC-EC877-CatHome&pos=18&lang=en-US

thanks for the post. but this filter claims to "reduce" lead, like a lot of other filters.

[Anonymous]

I am really confused by this thread, and worried. We haev an old house with a lead intake pipe, which we were told is not a problem because it's coated with sediment, and unlikely to leach any lead. I never tested our water, just used the PUR carafe based on Consumer Reports recommendations.

I just looked on the Consumer Reports website, and they recommend the PUR carafe and say it does filter lead effectively. Consumer Reports does pretty rigorous testing, and I'm inclined to pay attention to their recommendations. Does anyone have any information that shows CR tests are not valid? Does anyone know definitively that the PUR and Brita carafes do not filter lead effectively?

The article quoted in the previous thread was from 2007, and was not very informative.

Does anyone have current testing information from any other sources?

I looked on the NSF website, but could find no information about the carafes. The website was incredibly un-user-friendly.

I did read the fine print on my PUR carafe filters. It says quite clearly that the filter removes 98% of lead. Also, in very fine print under the NSF certification, it says that only certain PUR filters are certified under the current standard. My two-step filters (the blue ones that fit into the carafe) are not listed.

Now what? I'm totally confused, but still using the carafe, for lack of a good alternative.

BTW, reverse osmosis makes the water very acidic, which is supposed to be harder on our bodies. If you are extremely conscientious, you are supposed to get an alkalinizer to make the RO water more suitable for human consumption.

All too much work for me. I'm sticking with the carafe for the moment, but I'm very interested if anyone has more information to convince me to go in another direction with our water. Geeze, I don't want to find out I've been feeding my kids lead-laced water in the two years since I stopped feeding them bottled water out of fear of the chemicals in the plastic water bottles (in addition to environmental concerns). Whew. Long post.