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Top 10 Water Purification Units

Water purification methods have been around for thousands of years. One method of water purification is water filtration. Water filters are the least expensive of all techniques and are readily available. There are a wide selection of water filters on the market, as water pollution today is at an all time high. Different systems have different pros and cons, but good filters speak for themselves and make the task of finding the right system a bit easier.

  1. Countertop

    • Despite the large array of countertop filters available, only some come with standard filter cartridges. Replacement costs can be high, so units with standard cartridges rank best among consumers. Recommended countertop filters containing standard 10-inch cartridges include Aquatic Reef, Puriteam and Superior Water Filter System brands. Aquatic Reef brand filters can be used with standard or multistage cartridges and come with their own faucet. Puriteam filters last 3 years, or filter 12,000 gallons of water and eliminate 99.9 percent of Cryptosporidium and Giardia. Superior units filter down to 1.0 microns and provide cleansed water at 3 cents per gallon.

    Under-sink

    • Under-sink filters usually carry room for 2 or 3 different filters and can produce very high quality drinking water at an affordable price. Their simplicity requires little maintenance because they do not run on electricity or water like distiller and reverse osmosis type cleaners, and the basic 10-inch cartridges are easy to find. The leading three under-sink filters are the PurHome UCT made by PuriTeam,---which has customized choices of fluoride, nitrate or extra carbon, with a ceramic filter that removes metals, chlorine and VOC's---the Enhanced Performance Filter and the Triple Under-sink Filter, both made by Pure Water Products offering MATRIKX carbon blocks that provide fluoride, lead and chemical free water.

    Pitcher filters

    • Zero Water Pitcher Filters have five stages of filtration and a built-in replacement filter indicator. Crystal Quest water pitcher filters are cost effective, with an average 6- to 12-month filter life expectancy and 4 filtration stages. They remove 99 percent of contaminants and the cost per gallon for this filter is $0.0068. The PUR CR-900 is second in line, with two filtration levels and a 1-month filter life expectancy. This filter costs $0.37 per gallon. Brita is a popular brand of pitcher filters and offers $0.23 per gallon and a filter replacement indicator.

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