Water Filters vs. Bottled Water?

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Diva Chins

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I've been thinking about getting one of those Brita water filters in the pitcher so that I can pour it into the chin's water bottles. We have well water, not city water.
My question is: Has any one here used the Brita water filters? Do you feel it saves more money than bottled water or does it even it's self out? Which would you reccomend more?
 
I have a PUR filter on our faucet and I use it for my chins and my birds. I also prefer water via the filter. It just tastes better.
 
I use the Brita water filter and believe it will save you a lot of money in the long run vs. bottled water, and it's better for the environment. We have clean, well water but I just don't like to drink water straight from the tap. The water tastes great using the Brita water filter. We tried the one that attaches to the sink faucet, but we had two different ones leak and gave up on it. The pitcher works best for us.
 
Jenn said:
I use the Brita water filter and believe it will save you a lot of money in the long run vs. bottled water, and it's better for the environment. We have clean, well water but I just don't like to drink water straight from the tap. The water tastes great using the Brita water filter. We tried the one that attaches to the sink faucet, but we had two different ones leak and gave up on it. The pitcher works best for us.
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Thanks for the input! I figured the one that attaches to the faucet might be iffy, the pitcher looked so great and nifty. I figured it might be easier in the long run too, the filters aren't that much either.
 
Oh wow Rebecca, that thing looks nice, I'll have to see how much the wal-marts sells it for, maybe look at K-Marts, that is real nice looking though.
 
I have used the system below for over 3 years now. My chins get this water and always have done good.

Aquasana Drinking Water System
Voted Best Buy 2003-2007 By Consumers Digest Magazine.

Benefits:
• Removes Chlorine, Lead, Mercury, VOC's, THM's, MTBE and 100 other common tap water contaminants!
• Sub-Micron Filtration
• Filter out 99.99% of Chryptospordium and Giardia (chlorine resistant parasites)
• Leaves in the natural trace minerals
• Improves taste and smell
• Lasts up to 500 gallons or 6 months
• Removes Turbidity
• Compact design (7"Wx9"Hx4"D)-Installs in seconds
• 60 Day Satisfaction Guarantee!
• Only 9 cents a Gallon for Better than bottled water Quality!
• Made in the USA!
 
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I always use (at least) Brita filtered water. Sometimes I use bottled water, but most of the time its Brita filtered. I have also heard from my other friends that when they use "better" water, the animals drink more water.
 
To my knowledge, although the Brita filters are great for getting out the chlorine and other mineral/chemical contaminants out of the water (and certainly make it taste better), they do not take care of microorganisms like giardia and cryptosporidia. You can use a full purification system as mentioned above, or you can double filter through a Pur and then Brita filter to cover your bases (we have the Pur faucet filter and a Brita pitcher - it's worked great for us).
 
I also use a Pur filter. It's the 200 gallon on faucet filter, but we change it out at 150 (it reads off how many gallons you use when you turn it on) just to be on the safe side.
 
I'm not sure if Brita water filters have it but I have been told in order to filter parasites like Giardia from water you will need a filter that is 1-micron or smaller.
 
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We use water that has gone through a UV light and filtered water sytem here. The UV lights kill any bacteria and the carbon filters out unwanted chemicals
 
I'm assuming, and I could be wrong, that since my well water comes from 200 feet deep, that it shouldn't be contaminated...I use a brita water pitcher simply because I don't like water taken directly from the tap...
 
As CerLynn said, all you're doing is filtering out the minerals in the water. If you really want to do it for the health of your chins you need to get a good filter system.

If you're not down to at least 1 micron, you're really not doing anything.

ETA: To Jenn, where do you think that everyone else's water comes from? Minerals, pesticides, and other containments don't just hang out of the top of the water table. In some places you can get your water tested for free at places like culligan, and such, of course they will try to sell you their stuff. Sometimes your local extension offices or water resource organizations offer free testing as well.
 
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I use bottled water because I get them free from my work...other wise I'm guessing it would be cheaper in the long one to just dish out for a good filter...
 
Alderbrookchins said:
We use water that has gone through a UV light and filtered water sytem here. The UV lights kill any bacteria and the carbon filters out unwanted chemicals
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We have this system at the hotel where I work. I think I am going to start filling up a gallon bottle there when I need it.
 
Riven said:
As CerLynn said, all you're doing is filtering out the minerals in the water. If you really want to do it for the health of your chins you need to get a good filter system.

If you're not down to at least 1 micron, you're really not doing anything.

ETA: To Jenn, where do you think that everyone else's water comes from? Minerals, pesticides, and other containments don't just hang out of the top of the water table. In some places you can get your water tested for free at places like culligan, and such, of course they will try to sell you their stuff. Sometimes your local extension offices or water resource organizations offer free testing as well.
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as stated, my well water comes from a spring 200 feet down, very deep, very expensive to put in. My parents have a well 12 feet deep. I would assume their water has much more exposure to contaminents than mine. And our water has been tested. My only point was the deeper in the earth that the water comes from, the likelier it is to be free of many of the contaminents that have been filtered out nearer to the surface. Do I have water free of everything, totally pure? No, but if I can drink it, I'm sure my chin can drink it too.
 
Jenn said:
Do I have water free of everything, totally pure? No, but if I can drink it, I'm sure my chin can drink it too.
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That isn't necessarily true, and that's why we do filter our water. The amount of microorganisms, contaminants, etc in our tap water might not be enough to cause any problems for us, but it can be more than enough to affect our little fuzzballs.
 
CerLynn said:
That isn't necessarily true, and that's why we do filter our water. The amount of microorganisms, contaminants, etc in our tap water might not be enough to cause any problems for us, but it can be more than enough to affect our little fuzzballs.
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that's why I also use the Brita water pitcher. I tried the Pur faucet attachment twice and couldn't get it to stop leaking. So the best I can do at this moment in time, since money is tight with one income, is to have the Brita water pitcher. I feel it's better than bottled water, at least for the environment. I also live out on 5 acres and we try to be conscience of our impact on the land. But the water had great results after testing, so that is a plus. But like I said before, you never know what's in the pipes so I believe in further purification. After 11 years here, so far so good.

But I'm in total agreement with keeping our little fuzzballs at optimum health, so the more steps we take to proactively take care of them, the longer we'll have these guys around with us.
 
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