4 ms·

I don’t understand why people don’t just buy water filters.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
MikeDelta 5y ago
Depends on where you are. In Europe there is no need for that at all. What kind of water filter would that be? A simple small filter you attach to the faucet or a proper arm-sized cylinder you place somewhere along your water pipes? I am not sure how well those filters remove all contaminants like heavy metals and such.
- lstodd 5y ago
  Depends on where in Europe you are. In most of eastern you need partuculate, charcoal and ion-exchange in series to somewhat approach acceptable levels of shit in it.
- rgrieselhuber 5y ago
  It's much worse in the US, tons of heavy metals, chlorine, fluoride, etc. Berkey water filters are a good basic option.
  - syntaxing 5y ago
    I would not classify chlorine and fluoride as the same group as heavy metals… While it sounds dangerous, it’s hard to argue there isn’t a net positive to use fluoride and chlorine to society when it comes to water distribution. Also to note, there is nothing particular special of Berkeley filters compared to other carbon filter, and it does not filter heavy metals (you typically need ion exchange filter for that). The company has a bunch of filter claims and state that they haven’t gotten the NSF certification because of cost reasons but I find it really hard to believe that is the case.
    - rgrieselhuber 5y ago
      I always forget that you’re not allowed to object to having chemicals added to your water, hence the downvotes I guess. Good to know about Berkey, there are lots of options out there.
- andrepd 5y ago
  "Europe" is a very large place. In many places in Germany for instance, straight tap water is quite disgusting to drink. I'm an European, and that tinge of superiority is quite grating.
  - skrause 5y ago
    > In many places in Germany for instance, straight tap water is quite disgusting to drink. I'm a German who has been to many German places and I've never encountered tap water that was disgusting to drink...
    - Xylakant 5y ago
      I think “disgusting” is probably too hard of a word for it, but you can taste substantial differences in tap water in Germany and whenever I move it takes a bit of time until I get used to the local flavor. Berlin is different from Munich. Volvic tastes like Volvic tastes like Volvic and I can’t quite get used to the taste of Evian.
  - MikeDelta 5y ago
    You don't need a filter in Europe to make the water safer to drink because the tap water quality is tightly regulated and controlled, and tap-water is considered safe to drink. I can't speak about countries outside of Europe because I don't know their regulations. That's why I said Europe. Edit: After a bit more research I see that Western European tap water is mostly safe. Flavour is something else of course. If a filter helps than that is great. Healthier than mixing it with lemonade or coffee.
- CarobYoga 5y ago
  “In Europe there is no need for that”, are you really sure, Mike?
  - CarobYoga 5y ago
    I can’t blame Spanish people for using bottled water. Of course it’s far less sustainable but there is an history of contaminated tap water in several regions os Spain (you can check with a little research). If it is well regulated doesn’t mean that shit doesn’t happen. It seems to me that the probability that something wrong happens on open air lakes or rivers is bigger than in bottled water from spring water source. It also seems to me that you misunderstand the real function of taste sense in your body.
dfxm12 5y ago
Bottled water is too cheap and convenient. The people living today won't even have to deal with any real consequences to the environment. Give people a reason to care, while first accepting that, on the whole, people don't care about future generations of life on this planet.
- andrepd 5y ago
  Sadly this is the truth. Most people do not really care beyond their immediate self-interest, they will give up principles or jeopardise the future or other people for very very minor conveniences. You need to give people a reason to care by appealing to their self-interest. The only way I can see this regarding this problem is a tax on single-use plastics to make them very expensive.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- Ajedi32 5y ago
  Filters are way cheaper than bottled water, by several orders of magnitude[1]. Also more convenient in my opinion, as you have filtered water literally on-tap. [1]: https://www.homeadvisor.com/cost/environmental-safety/reverse-osmosis-system/ https://www.homeadvisor.com/cost/environmental-safety/revers...

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

Depends on where you are. In Europe there is no need for that at all. What kind of water filter would that be? A simple small filter you attach to the faucet or a proper arm-sized cylinder you place somewhere along your water pipes? I am not sure how well those filters remove all contaminants like heavy metals and such.

lstodd 5y ago
Depends on where in Europe you are. In most of eastern you need partuculate, charcoal and ion-exchange in series to somewhat approach acceptable levels of shit in it.
rgrieselhuber 5y ago
It's much worse in the US, tons of heavy metals, chlorine, fluoride, etc. Berkey water filters are a good basic option.
- syntaxing 5y ago
  I would not classify chlorine and fluoride as the same group as heavy metals… While it sounds dangerous, it’s hard to argue there isn’t a net positive to use fluoride and chlorine to society when it comes to water distribution. Also to note, there is nothing particular special of Berkeley filters compared to other carbon filter, and it does not filter heavy metals (you typically need ion exchange filter for that). The company has a bunch of filter claims and state that they haven’t gotten the NSF certification because of cost reasons but I find it really hard to believe that is the case.
  - rgrieselhuber 5y ago
    I always forget that you’re not allowed to object to having chemicals added to your water, hence the downvotes I guess. Good to know about Berkey, there are lots of options out there.
andrepd 5y ago
"Europe" is a very large place. In many places in Germany for instance, straight tap water is quite disgusting to drink. I'm an European, and that tinge of superiority is quite grating.
- skrause 5y ago
  > In many places in Germany for instance, straight tap water is quite disgusting to drink. I'm a German who has been to many German places and I've never encountered tap water that was disgusting to drink...
  - Xylakant 5y ago
    I think “disgusting” is probably too hard of a word for it, but you can taste substantial differences in tap water in Germany and whenever I move it takes a bit of time until I get used to the local flavor. Berlin is different from Munich. Volvic tastes like Volvic tastes like Volvic and I can’t quite get used to the taste of Evian.
- MikeDelta 5y ago
  You don't need a filter in Europe to make the water safer to drink because the tap water quality is tightly regulated and controlled, and tap-water is considered safe to drink. I can't speak about countries outside of Europe because I don't know their regulations. That's why I said Europe. Edit: After a bit more research I see that Western European tap water is mostly safe. Flavour is something else of course. If a filter helps than that is great. Healthier than mixing it with lemonade or coffee.
CarobYoga 5y ago
“In Europe there is no need for that”, are you really sure, Mike?
- CarobYoga 5y ago
  I can’t blame Spanish people for using bottled water. Of course it’s far less sustainable but there is an history of contaminated tap water in several regions os Spain (you can check with a little research). If it is well regulated doesn’t mean that shit doesn’t happen. It seems to me that the probability that something wrong happens on open air lakes or rivers is bigger than in bottled water from spring water source. It also seems to me that you misunderstand the real function of taste sense in your body.

dfxm12 5y ago

Bottled water is too cheap and convenient. The people living today won't even have to deal with any real consequences to the environment. Give people a reason to care, while first accepting that, on the whole, people don't care about future generations of life on this planet.

andrepd 5y ago
Sadly this is the truth. Most people do not really care beyond their immediate self-interest, they will give up principles or jeopardise the future or other people for very very minor conveniences. You need to give people a reason to care by appealing to their self-interest. The only way I can see this regarding this problem is a tax on single-use plastics to make them very expensive.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
Ajedi32 5y ago
Filters are way cheaper than bottled water, by several orders of magnitude[1]. Also more convenient in my opinion, as you have filtered water literally on-tap. [1]: https://www.homeadvisor.com/cost/environmental-safety/reverse-osmosis-system/ https://www.homeadvisor.com/cost/environmental-safety/revers...