I know that tap water is good enough quality around here, but since I grew up drinking Sparklett’s, I’m a) spoiled and b) psychologically incapable of drinking tap water.
As a grad student though, I realized I’d probably save a lot more money if I went without the Crystal Geyser, as I’d done all through college, so I bought a $15 Brita pitcher at Target and some filters, and it’s been okay. My friend recently told me that Brita filters don’t really do much more than make the water taste better (which it actually doesn’t, says this Volvic snob*) — Brita does almost nothing to reduce the water’s lead content. I don’t think that’s a huge issue around here, though. Besides, studies abound showing that bottled water doesn’t really come through with the cleanliness either (the magic of the bottled stuff is all in the minerals, and the taste, really). Again, I know I could just drink straight from the tap, but I’d need to undergo some hefty cognitive behavioral therapy to get to that point.
Anyway, I’m definitely saving money, since a Brita filter costs around $8, which gives you about 40 gallons of water, and you can reuse the pitcher. Sparkletts charges $8 for a 5 gallon bottle to be delivered to your home by a shiny, sequined truck driven by a very nice, muscular man (hey, I didn’t say it was a ripoff, just that it was more expensive =D). But more importantly, by using Brita filters, I’m sort of helping to reduce waste in the environment, since I’m not buying hundreds of plastic bottles and those plastic holder ring thingies that supposedly kill birds and turtles by the thousands.
Which is why I’m somewhat surprised that Brita doesn’t have a program (at least, not in the States) for letting you mail in the old filters to be recycled somehow (like HP does with printer ink cartridges). They should do that, if only to boost that nice, “environmentally-friendly!” image.
I mean, that’s pretty much all they have going for them, at this point.
*Bottled water on a taste scale: Volcania > Volvic > Sparklett’s > Crystal Geyser > Arrowhead > Brita > Evian > Vittel > Dasani (definitely avoid the Dasani)
Filed under: water
