How to Filter Tap Water (without plastic jugs)
Plastic jug filters are quite expensive, the filters are wrapped in plastic, and they don’t fit through the letterbox, if you don’t live near a bit supermarket (to buy or recycle the filters).
How much water should we drink?
The average adult needs around 1.2 litres per day (more in hot weather or after vomiting or diarrhoea). That’s around six 200ml glasses. So drink two glasses when you wake up, have two more before lunch, and two more before dinner. Add more per glass of wine or beer, or per tea, coffee or cola.
Wash and rinse pet bowls daily. Avoid fizzy water or guzzling water after runs or car trips (to prevent bloat). Don’t let pets drink from puddles, due to bacteria, oil and antifreeze. For outdoor pets, ensure drip-feed bottles are not blocked or frozen in winter.
Phox (zero waste alternative to plastic jugs)
Phox Compatible is a refillable cartridge that fits all jugs, kettles and coffee machines that use Brita Maxtra & Matra+ cartridges.
If you’re not in the market to buy one of their own jugs, this is the next best thing. It slots into your current jug and is built to last years. Just replace the filter granules every 45 days.
Sold in 3 versions (for hard/very hard water or an Alkaline pack with increased magnesium) it won’t remove chlorine (you need reverse osmosis for that). The jug takes just a few minutes to fill, then lasts 200 litres.
You can put most parts in the dishwasher (not the jug base or rubber gaskets). If you go on holiday, immerse in water, remove and place in a jug of fresh water, to stop the granules drying out.
Do You Need to Filter Water?
If you don’t like the taste of chlorine (and if your council chlorinates water, there’s nothing much you can do), just do what restaurants do. And air a jug of water for 30 minutes, for the taste to disappear.
Lead pipes are an issue, so check with your builder or council. And don’t drink tap water from bathrooms (some say it’s fine, but often it’s from different tanks). It’s also best not to drink water from warm/hot taps.
These days, we have all kinds of stuff in tap water, from chlorine to microplastics. This can lead to normal tap water tasting unpleasant, or at least not very nice. Filtering tap water basically makes it taste nice, but you don’t have to use plastic jugs.
Ceramic water filters use a porous shell to trap debris and bacteria, like a coffee strainer. These last for months or years, and are easily cleaned with a natural brush. Go for ones that have stainless steel or glass housings. Just fill the upper chamber with tap water, then gravity pulls the water through, and leaves clean water below.
Aarke is a stainless steel filter jug with refillable cartridge and granules, but it does cost around £100. You set a dial inside the lid to know when to change the cartridge, and if you remove the granules from the filter cartridge, you can put it in the dishwasher.
Hard Water & Limescale in England
Unless you live in northwest England, you likely have hard water (which makes it cloudy, due to a combination of chalk and limestone) and although it doesn’t taste as nice, it does no harm.
Most water boards add chlorine (to kill bacteria) and fluoride (Ireland has fluoridated tap water for decades with no good effects on dental health, but it’s added around 10% of England, though new schemes are rare). For old pipes, ask your water board to visit, to check there is no (harmful) lead in your tap water.
The other main issue in hard water areas is limescale, which does not taste nice and could build up calcium and magnesium carbonate, which can lead to bladder stones.
To descale a kettle, fill it three-quarters with equal parts of tap water and distilled white vinegar (also sold in supermarkets).
Boil and cool, then drain and rinse several times, until all flakes have gone. Then boil (full) and empty again, to remove vinegar taste. Adding a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda can help shift stubborn limescale.
Water-to-Go (reusable bottles with in-built filters)
Water-to-Go (use WTGAW20 for 20% discount) is a company that makes lightweight yet durable reusable water bottles (made from sugar cane) with built-in and easy-to-recycle filters. The lids are made from recycled vegetable oil and wood pulp, and easy recycled at end of us. So now all you need is water from the tap, to stay hydrated!
Don’t fill hot liquids to top, and avoid wide-mouth bottles with hot drinks for children. Don’t place metal bottles in the microwave.
The company was created by founders of a textiles company, who were aghast when travelling abroad, to see the mountains of plastic waste. Knowing that everyone needs access to clean safe water, they decided to do something about it.
The filters contain three different technologies (mechanical filtration, electrical and activated carbon) to filter bacteria, protozoa, viruses, heavy metals and harmful chemicals, and have been internationally tested and validated for over 14 years.
Ideal for backpackers to commuters, and from busy mums to gym users, one filter (based on drinking 2 litres of water a day) should last 3 months.
Each filter can replace 400 plastic water bottles, and works out around 6.25p for each litre you drink. Then when the filter is used, the filter membrane is biodegradable and the shrouds recycled. The casing and end caps go in plastic recycling bins.
You have to wet the filter to activate the technology. Fill the bottle up and turn it upside down, then submerge the new filter for at least 15 minutes. Do the same if the filter has been dry for some days. At end of use, The larger bottle is dishwasher-friendly (the lid and the smaller bottle and lid are hand-wash only).
Black + Blum Charcoal Water Filter
Upgrade your water bottle into a ‘filter bottle’ and enjoy great tasting tap water with Black _ Blum Charcoal Filter. Inspired by a method used in Japan, the filter filter removes chlorines and adds minerals, to make tap water taste great. Made from quality stainless steel, one filter should last for six months, and is pre-washed and ready for us.
Charcoal filters do sometimes have sediment at the bottom, so it’s best to avoid for young children and pets.
Quooker Hot Water Tap (with optional filter)
Quooker is an instant hot water tap to avoid kettles etc, but it costs a fortune so is best reserved for professional use, in which case it will likely save you money long-term. The CUBE is an optional filter that attaches. You then basically click it in a certain direction to give you filtered (or sparkling) water.
Belu (filtered water taps that help others)
Belu is an amazing social enterprise, that offers both filtered and bottled/canned water for offices and the hospitality industry (restaurants, hotels etc). And uses profits to help provide clean water in Global South countries. Just imagine is everyone switched over, what good it could do?
We could take this even further. Just imagine if all schools, hospitals, nursing homes, doctor surgeries, gyms, council offices and government buildings also switched. It would reduce a huge amount of plastic waste, keep water sourcing local, and help the many people abroad without access to fresh clean water.
Over 700 million people in the world have no access to clean safe drinking water, with around one million women and babies dying each year, due to lack of clean places to give birth.
This has knock-on effects like diseases when washing hands or using toilets (Who Gives a Crap? offers recycled toilet paper, that gives 50% of profits to fund clean toilets abroad).
Every 2 minutes a child under 5 dies, from diarrhoea caused by dirty water. And climate change is making things worse (Reform UK does not believe in taking action on climate change, so more children would die, to create fossil fuel profits).
Belu Water Filtration Systems
Star of the show is Belu’s water filtration systems. These enable you to serve up fresh filtered water, without needing to buy any bottles or cans for staff, customers or patients. There are over 70 wholesalers that you can order from, listed on the website.
The company offers a range of machines, and can provide filtered water both front and back of house, with marketing materials and user instructions for staff. It also offers water dispensers for offices, meeting rooms, restaurants and restrooms.
There are options for chilled, still, sparkling and hot water available. Free-flowing filtered water also can boost revenues, as you will not be buying in bottled water for your business.
Bottled and Canned Waters
The still and sparkling mineral waters are from Powys (Wales) in glass bottles (if you want plastic, there are recycled plastic bottles available, just be sure to recycle them to avoid litter). Same with any plastic packaging.
Alternatively, you can serve up water in cans made of 68% recycled aluminium.
You don’t have to crush cans, but do pop the ring-pulls back over holes before recycling, to avoid wildlife getting trapped.
Frank Water (refill stations to help others)
Frank Water works with communities to change the picture. Its focus is simple and strong, providing refill stations for offices, pubs and restaurants across the UK, which reduce plastic and then uses profits to provide clean safe water in developing countries, mostly for children in India.
