These pitchers are portable

But purchasing small bottles of water for household use is impractical, expensive, and will not solve the problem of a poor water supply in your home. It is daunting to know that it is perfectly legal to bottle water directly from wells, springs and even your own public water supply. Safe and tasty drinking water is not a given either from the bottle or the tap. Water does not normally exist in a pristine, ready to drink condition. The water you sip from a flowing ace water filters stream is even more likely to carry chemicals and bacteria than the water supplied to your home from your water supplier or your well. It is important to make sure that you are not taking in extra bits of e coli or arsenic when you fill your glass from the tap.
Public utility or water treatment plants are required to publish a Consumer Confidence Report containing information about the quality of their water supply. You can call your supplier for this report or find it on the company website. In it, you will find the EPA's listing of Maximum Contaminant Levels (placer), or the highest concentration allowed for those contaminants known to cause health problems. Then the report will note the actual level found in your water. Unfortunately this report does not tell the whole story of the health of your home's water. There may be seasonal or weather conditions that cause spikes in contaminant levels. There may be contaminants leaching into your water while enroute to your home, or even while it is inside your home. Lead pipes and old plumbing fixtures can leave lead deposits in your water. Very young, elderly or pregnant members of your family may be particularly vulnerable to levels of contaminants considered safe for the general public. Home-test kits for lead are available on the Internet as are kits for detecting other potential problems in your drinking water supply.

Contact your local health department personnel for a list of the typical well water contaminants in your area. You may want to get your drinking water tested by an independent lab. Look under Water Analysis in your yellow pages or ask your local or state health department for names of certified laboratories that can analyze your well water for bacteria, nitrates, hardness, iron, sediment, radon, arsenic, and even brita pitcher water filter pesticides.

The carafe or pitcher system is certainly the simplest and least costly solution to water quality issues. These pitchers are portable, use no electricity and waste no water. There is no professional installation. These pitchers or jugs are inexpensive and only require a change of filter every two months. Even this is low tech, the procedure involving nothing more than, in some applications, pulling out and replacing a short, fat cylinder. This cylinder holds a carbon filter that strains out minute impurities. The water passes through the filter as it is dispensed.

If the chlorine levels are high enough, or other contaminates such as sediment are present in your water, it can taste downright nasty. These carbon filters remove the nasty chlorine taste for a sweeter drink of water.

These filters are sold at home centers, pharmacies, grocery stores and large discount stores. One disadvantage to this system is the prolonged wait time for water to pass through the modifier, sometimes amounting to more than 20 minutes. If your household drinks a lot of water you may find yourself refilling the carafe or jug many times a day, lugging it over to the sink, then waiting for the water to filter. If you have a smaller refrigerator, its real estate can be diminished by a large jug of water. If it is difficult for you to keep track of the rectifier usage, this may not be the best method for your water treatment.