The tap water in my area (the midlands) tastes horrible so I currently buy bottled water for drinking and for using in my Huel. I’m concerned about the overall waste in this entire process so I want to buy something to filter my tap water to make it taste closer to bottled water.
I like a good research project but this topic seems enormous with everything from £3 filter jugs to hundreds of pound filter jugs to inline tap filters to desktop urn style devices.
Does anybody have any experience in this area they can share?
I have a British Berkefeld stainless steel filter, with ceramic heavy metal filters - the actual container will last a life time and can be hand washed easily like any other stainless steel kitchen utensil - I do this about once a week. You can buy standard ceramic candle shaped filters, or the slightly more expensive heavy metal filters. I buy the heavy metal ones. They filter literally everything out of the water (most jug filters just take limescale out, nothing else). These filters remove bacteria, heavy metals, chlorine, fluoride to name a few. The ceramic filters need to be replaced roughly every 6 months to 1 year. Depending on the water you are filtering, they can be cleaned with a regular sponge and water (no washing up liquid) every day or every few weeks (if filtering tap water, you only need to scrub them occassionally, if filtering rain or river water, you would want to scrub them regularly).
It is an expensive investment but far more cost-effective long-term. Also gives peace of mind that if you ever lost access to tap water, you could filter and drink pretty much any water, from any source. I also use mine to take camping, in case I am somewhere remote, and have taken it abroad also, where tap water is generally not safe to drink.
They come in various sizes - I would get the largest for home-use.
I’m not sure if Berkey Filters is the same thing - I’ve just tried to find the exact one I bought but am having trouble finding it. But the Berkey sounds similar (or the same) - their website states
‘Berkey Filters remove 99,999% of Chlorine, Viruses, Harmful pathogenic Bacteria, Cysts, Heavy Metals, parasites and hazardous chemical contaminants and other impurities while leaving undisturbed the essential minerals your body needs. Berkey filter can purify water from almost any source, Tap water, Rain water, Ponds water & local water supplies in almost any countries.’
Okay, this is the exact one I have, with the super sterasyl filters which are the highest class of filters that you can buy for this type of filter.
But you can get other brands, very similar. The Berkey sounds almost identical. And they come in different sizes, so get the largest capacity possible ideally, for use at home, as it can sit on the worktop. If there is more than one person in your household, you can buy an additional two filters, so that the water filters through four candles at a time, and you get more water faster. I find two filters is plenty for just me. I need to refill the top container once a day.
Edit: Sorry, actually I have the ATC Super Stersyl ceramic filters, which filter heavy metals. You can choose the level of filter that suits your needs and your water supply
Excellent, thank you. I shall look into this further. Tbh, I am not put off by the price. I’d pay more than that per year in bottled water and go through enough plastic bottles to sink a battle ship.
Yes! That’s my attitude exactly. I looked at Brita type jugs but they don’t actually filter very much out of the water and the filters need changing really regularly and it seems wasteful and expensive. I also looked at attaching filters to my incoming water supply, which is a good option as it will also mean you get nice filtered water to bathe in etc and less limescale build-up in your appliances, toilet, bath etc. But I decided I didn’t really need to filter ALL the water coming into my home, only the water I was planning to cook with and drink.
But most of all I love having the reassurance of being able to take it with me, on holiday etc so I can filter water anywhere. And really love the reassurance that if my tap-water supply ever got cut-off I could simply filter rain water (a bit of a survivalist at heart! my berkefeld plus a massive stash of Huel and I am ready for any apocalypse )
There’s a major leak down the other end of my road. They’ve turned the mains water off for the whole area. When I rang them they said it will be fixed in two days. Two days??? How will I mix my Huel with no water? I have a choice of one can of diet coke, a litre of aged rum, or filtering my own urine through my Berkefeld
I went to the local corner shop to buy one of those 5l bottles of water. They looked at me like I was daft. Water? We don’t sell water. Oh yeah. I forgot. I live in one of those areas where you can buy special brew, dubious white spirits labelled ‘vlodka’, coke or vimto. No water. No vegetables. Nothing even resembling a vegetable. Even the crisps don’t resemble a potato.
Waaaaaaaa I need my Huel. Okay. Coca-Cola Huel it is for supper. I will let you know the result!
)
Perhaps you need something to filter him out 
