Brita Now Comes in Green

January 5, 2009 in Homemaking, Ideas, News, Products/Services | 6 comments

I just got a new Brita water pitcher.  The flip-up pour spout cover on our old one had broken off long ago, and when we moved here to our new house we felt like it was time to start fresh and get a new one.

I love my Brita water.  I wanted to write a whole post about how drinking Brita water is superior to drinking bottled water, but then I found out that the Cult of Green is taking on the bottled water industry, and I hate to be on the same side as those wackos.

  1. LB on January 5, 2009 at 7:25 pm

    As the expression goes, even a broken clock is right two times a day. It’s important to judge each idea based on its own merit. No doubt Brita will jump on any environmentalist bandwagon to promote their product, but just as I will save paper when I’m running low or my excessive use is costing too much, sometimes I am in line with the Cult of Green, purely by accident.

    I wanted to know more about household reverse osmosis filtration systems. Got any thoughts/wisdom on that?

  2. Amy on January 5, 2009 at 8:16 pm

    LB: Of course, I still love my Brita and just wanted an excuse to express my disgust with the environmentalist movement. :)

    I think my father installed a reverse osmosis filtration system in his RV. I’ll ask him about it.

  3. Beth Terry, aka Fake Plastic Fish on January 5, 2009 at 11:25 pm

    What is it exactly about the environmental movement that disgusts you?

    Oh, and don’t look now, but Brita is even greener than you thought. They’ve created a recycling program for the pitcher filters:

    http://www.takebackthefilter.org/

    Cheers!

    Beth (who has no problem being labeled “green”)

  4. Amy on January 10, 2009 at 3:33 pm

    LB: Here is the response from my dad. I don’t think you’ll get better information anywhere:
    ******************************
    Hi Amy,

    Tap water, though usually safe, Tastes bad in most parts of the country. When we moved to Porterville we had well water which tasted so bad that we bought bottled water to drink. I installed a reverse osmosis system in the house with 2 sink taps and a line to the ice maker (ice is important because bad tasting ice ruins any drink you put it in). It absolutely solved the bad taste problem. In my opinion it is the most convenient way to have pure water available at all times. However there are some negatives. It requires some annual filter replacements and the RO filter every 5 years. The water storage tank air pressure needs to be checked and maintained. Also a RO system wastes about 4 gallons of water for every gallon of pure water made (this is not a big deal in a home because most families would not use more than 2 or 3 gallons of pure water a day).

    When we moved to the motor home we had to go back to bottled water. This was awkward because it’s heavy, needs to be stored and it took up valuable counter space. I wanted to install a RO system but I didn’t think we could tolerate the loss of the waste water. It would be OK in an RV park where we’re hooked up but so much of the time we are operating on our storage tanks. The RO waste not only takes water from our fresh water tank but also puts it in the waste tank. I finally figured out that with a couple of valves I could put the RO waste back into the fresh water tank so that we would not lose the use of that water. After all, the RO waste water is no worse than the incoming water. I installed the system and the additional valves and it has worked out fine. The valves allow me to direct the RO waste to either the waste tank or the fresh tank depending on our circumstances. I installed one sink tap and a line to the ice maker. We have been using this system for three years now and have not bought a single bottle of water. It works great and I would highly recommend it. One additional note. We spent about 6 weeks in Mexico and did not have any hookups. When we filled our water tank we added chlorine at a fairly high concentration. We could smell the chlorine every time we turned on the tap or flushed the toilet. The RO system completely removed the chlorine smell and taste from the drinking water. I might add that we never got sick in Mexico.

    Hope this helps, Dad

  5. Amy on January 10, 2009 at 3:37 pm

    Beth:

    I don’t plan on writing about why I disagree with environmentalism on my blog, but you might pick up hints here and there. In the meantime, here is a link to a short article that sums up my position well:

    http://www.aynrand.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=22271

  6. LB on January 10, 2009 at 6:50 pm

    Thanks for seeking and sharing that information. It’s just what I wanted to know. I can read all the spec sheets, but I didn’t know anyone who has experience with the installation and continued use.

    I think his solution for the RV (putting the RO waste back into the tap line) is a great one. I wonder why that isn’t a standard recommendation on a smaller unit (to be used in a boat or RV)?