Filter your drinking water and eliminate plastic water bottles!

I have been giving thought to how to reduce my personal use of plastic items. I have been providing cases of bottled water to an elderly relative who needs to drink water on a regular basis to prevent dehydration. This results in bags of empty plastic bottles which must be recycled. And it is questionable whether our recycled items are actually being recycled at this time or just ending up in a land fill since China has made its import rules for accepting plastics from the U.S. more strict. I found an inexpensive drinking water filter system at Home Depot that costs under $200 for everything which includes a filtered water faucet that is mounted next to the kitchen faucet. There are many different types of systems with from 1-4 cartridges ranging from under $100 to over $400 that I have seen at Home Depot, Lowes and on Amazon. I preferred a simple, single-cartridge system with filtered water faucet. You can also connect the filter directly to your cold water tap, but then you are also using your filter when washing dishes which reduces it's lifetime. I also found that in the past, a brown slime will cover the filter over time -- reducing the water flow -- that would normally require replacing the $30 filter. If you have a high-pressure hose or a pressure washer, however, you can simply spray the filter down to remove the slime then reuse the filter a few times. So what did I use for my drinking water filter system? I purchased a GX1S01R Single Stage Water Filtration System for $35.97 at Home Depot as shown above. But don't get too excited yet :-) That does not include the green type C filter for $29.97 which we bought at the same time. So that is an initial cost of $67 plus tax. It will cost an additional $60 or so for the hoses and hardware to connect the filter to your existing cold water line and to add a filtered water faucet. So for about $130 you can have at least six months of clean drinking water for each filter. The filter reduces lead, select volatile organic compounds, asbestos, chlorine-resistant cysts, chlorine odor and taste and 5 other (unspecified) contaminants. The additional (approximately $60) hardware required will most likely be a t-type brass adapter to split the water inlet to route to the filter, two brass fittings for the filter inlet and outlet, two hoses for the inlet and outlet, an adapter for the outlet hose to faucet and a filtered water faucet ($21.99) for dispensing the water. Teflon tape is used to seal the non-compression fittings to prevent leaks. If you are interested in installing this or a similar system, Scott Ferguson can do the installation free of charge.

Jackie Phelps ordered an under sink water filter from Amazon that taps into the existing cold water line. The filter and hardware are included for $84.95 (free shipping). Add a filtered water faucet and adapter at an additional cost of about $25. Filters are rated for 1 year or 1,200 gallons and cost $21 each. This is a quick and easy installation if using the existing cold water faucet.

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sf