ZeroWater 23-Cup Dispenser Ready-Pour 5-Stage Water Filter with 0 TDS Water Filter IAPMO Certified to Reduce Lead Chromium

I will start off by saying that I have an M.S. degree in Environmental Science. This has absolutely no bearing on this review, except that I completely understand the processes going on with the zero water filter and the concept of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS). I did not purchase the zero water for any altruistic purpose. I did it to save money. I used to by bottled spring water because I grew up in a rural area and never acquired a taste for city water. I hate the taste of chlorinated water. I was looking for an alternative to expensive, and yes wasteful, bottled water that would taste good enough to drink. I did a lot of research before deciding to buy this, and I am glad that I did. The result is that I love the choice I made. I am going to discuss my experience with this product and also respond to some of the other reviews that I read here. So here we go: 1. The product is solidly made. I have owned this for five months and have had no problems with leakage from the filter (I am on number two) where it connects to the water reservoir or any other mechanical problems. 2. When I first set the product up, I did neglect to watch the O-ring around the filter when I tightened it. I saw a few drops of water leak out around the seal, realized what had happened, and screwed the filter on making sure the O-ring was secure and tight. This was complete user error and had nothing at all to do with the product. I mention it so that if you are just starting out, you do not make the same mistake. 3. It does take awhile for the water to filter through. When I first got this and after replacing the filter, I would say it took about twenty to thirty minutes to filter enough water to fill the container. After filling it the first time, I have just gotten into the habit of pouring water in when I take water out. It is easy and gives me a constant supply of water. 4. The life of the filter is highly dependent on the water quality from your tap and how much water you use. I was worried that I would end up spending more on filters than bottle water costs; it did not end up being a problem in my area. The TDS for my tap runs somewhere between about 98 and 140 ppm (parts per million) with an average of around 111 ppm. I have learned this from testing the TDS over time. To test the life of my first filter, I decided never to add water to the reservoir unless it was below 120 ppm. The only time my water gets above this is when their is a big rain storm, so I just worked around the weather. Using this as my guideline, my first filter lasted 71 days. I am on number two, now. Also, I use somewhere between two-thirds to all of the water capacity daily. Way more economical than bottled water! Note: Before purchasing this, I went to the zero water website. They have a section where you can enter your zip code, and it tells you what the average TDS is for your area. For my area, their information was accurate. I would suggest doing this when deciding if this is right for you, especially if the cost of filters is an issue. 5. The taste of the water is good. Now, I will say that for the first four or five days the water has a funk to it. I thought it tasted vaguely like when you use purification tablets in water. I was not impressed, but I thought it was better than city water. What I noticed was that after a few days the water tasted better. This happened again when I replaced the filter. I am guessing that when you first use the filter there is some aromatic residue from the filter itself, but it goes away basically after you get through the initial water that you put in. I have super sensitive taste - my boyfriend did not notice the funk at all. He really likes this water, and once the funk goes away, I really like it, too. No chlorine taste! Yay! 6. I have read some concerns in the reviews about the pH of the water that you get. I have not tested the pH of the water after it has been treated with the zero water system. However, If the pH is 4 or 5, I am not very concerned about it. The natural acidity of your stomach is around 4 to 5, and drops to somewhere between 1 and 2 when you eat. I have had no problems with an acid stomach, etc. from this product. In fact, the lower acidity may reduce the amount of acid your body has to produce to counteract what you have consumed. I am not sure, but I have not noticed any changes in my physiology in response to drinking this water. Overall, I am extremely pleased with my zero water purifier. It is economical, produces tasty water, and is very convenient. It is slender enough that we keep ours in the refrigerator, so we not only have good water, but we can keep it cool, as well. In five months, mine has more than paid for itself in savings from buying bottled water. Hope this effort helps if you are making the decision as to whether or not this investment is right for you. Read more

Two years ago I was in a health crisis. I went on a raw food diet, had colonics, cleanses and looked for ways to detox. The first place I started was with the water I was drinking. I was on a limited budget and went on a mission to find the best, inexpensive water pitcher. I checked out Brita and Pur and then saw this Zero Water Pitcher. I checked out all of their specs on the boxes and the Zero Water Pitcher has a 5 stage cleaning process whereas the others had 4. It had more credentials and certifications, too than the others. So, I picked up this pitcher and brought it home. It comes with a special meter to measure the amount of 'crap' in our water in parts per million or PPM. I absolutely love this little tool, too. So, I went home and tested our city water. It had 110 parts per million. I tried the water from the Zero Water Pitcher. It had ZERO - yep, zero parts per million. Two friends of mine had a Brita and Pur pitchers. I tried their water. If memory serves me right, they both were around 46 - 76 parts per million. I also tested one of the bottled waters on the market and it was over 125 parts per million! It's amazing that we have so much crap in our water system. Things like pesticides, herbicides, oils, hormones, prescription drugs of all sorts and all kinds of things. Things that wreak havoc with our entire system which our body has no way of processing besides to stuff it into our fat cells, liver, etc. and make us sicker. I've recommended this water pitcher to many, many people and will continue to do so. It's inexpensive, works great and I drink a ton of water a day! The water tastes great, too. For some, they'll complain about the cost of the replacement filters. No, they're not cheap but I buy them in a case of 12 which makes it less expensive. Our body is over 70 percent water. Can we really afford to put crap in it from unclean water? I know for some, I may seem a bit 'over the top' but when you're sick and you think that death is not far away, you will realize for yourself - not from a book, movie or poetic words - how dependent we are on our health. Yeah, the old cliché is 'if you don't have your health, you don't have anything' and that is so, so true. The first step I made to getting my life back in shape was by this water pitcher and I use it every single day. It's well-built, doesn't leak and sits on my counter where I fill it with my faucet hose many times throughout the day. I prefer this over the smaller pitcher, which I previously had, because it has a large reservoir on the top and filters a large amount of water at one time instead of having to keep filling up a smaller pitcher. I hope this helps. :) Read more

Got this for our RV because we felt bad about the huge packs of plastic water bottles we bought every trip. Yes it takes up space on our table but it's pretty slim. But the reduction of trash was important to us, it was filling up the small trash can so fast. We have reusable water bottles so this made way more sense for us. The fist time using whenever you drain it is slowwww. But after that it works just fine. We use it for drinking, our ice maker, and our coffee. We have just a basic filter on our hose so this adds extra filtering and good flavor. I like the super fine filtering it says it does, makes me feel better anyway. Y'all know how campground water can be...lol Read more