I am really picky about the water that I drink. I like water that tastes good. I don’t want to taste chemicals or minerals in my water. I want it to be pure and healthy. When we moved here, I quickly learned that the local water was horrible, so we started getting the 3 and 5 gallon bottles of water from Walmart and the local water stands. (Yes, we have water stands around here where you can fill up your water bottles. They are everywhere, so that tells you how bad the water really is here.)
The only problem with this is getting to the location to fill up the water and having to carry around those big water bottles when they are filled. Having bottled water delivered was not something that we were willing to pay for due to the high cost.
We were thrilled with the opportunity to review a ZeroWater pitcher. The ZeroWater filters have a 5 stage filtering process which allows the water to come out as purified water. ZeroWater is the only filtered water that meets the FDA definition of purified water. It removes contaminates and other substances from the water, so the end result is a delicious tasting pure water. They are so confident in their filters that they even send a TDS meter to test the water to make sure the water reads 000 when it is done with the filtering process.
Being homeschoolers, you know that we can turn anything into a learning experience. Munchkin set out to test all the different water sources in our home. These were her results:
- Tap water (on base): 833
- Filtered water from water filling station: 16
- Filtered fridge water: 700
She also had fun combining the waters to see what results would be when you added X water to Y water… What do those numbers mean?
According to the information from ZeroWater:
- 500+ means there is extreme water contamination
- 301-500 means there is exceptionally high water contamination
- 201-300 means there is high water contamination
- 051-200 means there is typical water contamination (most water is USA fall into this group)
- 002-050 means there is moderate water contamination (very few cities have this level)
- 000-001 means that this water meets FDA definition of purified bottled water
Obviously, we have some seriously bad water. Yuck! What this means for us is that the filter will only last us for about 8 gallons of water. If your water falls into the typical range of 051-200, your filter will last for 25-40 gallons. The good news is that the filter really works! We ran our tap water through the pitcher and ended up with 000 water that tasted absolutely wonderful. I found myself wanting to drink more water because it tasted so good.
The ZeroWater pitcher holds 8 cups of water. For us, this wasn’t nearly enough water because we go through a lot of water. There are only 3 of us, and we were constantly having to fill the pitcher with water to keep water on hand. The other issue is that because of its shape and size it takes up a good bit of valuable fridge space. The good news is that they made a version that will go on top of a water cooler, so that would probably be a better solution for those of us who go through lots of water.
I do want to note that you really need to change the filter as recommended. Once the filter is filled to capacity with contaminates it may (and did in our case) start releasing the contaminates back into the water. Because we were doing a review, we did keep the filter in past its prime on purpose. After some time, the water coming out was actually worse than the water going in. So, you really do need to follow the recommendations for changing the filter.
The ZeroWater 8 cup Pitcher retails for $35. The replacement filters retail for $30 for a pair of filters. Obviously, your filter mileage will vary depending on the quality of the water at your location.
Final Thoughts: The water from the pitcher is very good. It does exactly as advertised. The cost of water will vary according to the current quality of your water. Obviously, in a case like ours, the cost will be higher. The convenience of not having to lug around large jugs of water is nice. The pitcher does not have enough capacity for a family that goes through a large amount of water daily. The filtering process is slow, so you need to plan ahead for filling up the pitcher. Overall, we were pleased with the pitcher.
We received a ZeroWater Pitcher from ZeroWater for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received. All opinions are my own. This post contains Amazon affiliate links.
