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Posts: 1718

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Q: Brita water filters?

I know we were talking about tap water recently and the effects of boiling it. But I just saw a Brita filter bottle for sale in my local supermarket. I used one back home, but was just wondering if it would actually do any good here. It says it removes heavy metals and chlorine.  Anyone use one for tap water or bottled water?

 

 

Bonus question:  What water do you use to wash fruit and veg, dishes, your teeth? And for cooking things like rice and pasta? Does it matter?

9 years 25 weeks ago in  Health & Safety - China

 
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Posts: 19790

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Some they dip silver coins or silver bullion in drinking water. I never tried myself, but silver undoubtedly has some cleaning effects on drinking water. More about here:

 

http://forums.silverseek.com/archive/index.php/t-2543.html

Somebody mentioned Brita filters and silver coin on this thread:

http://forums.silverseek.com/archive/index.php/t-19654.html

You can see all topics on silver bullion in drinking water here: ( or if you click 'Silver Health' tab on the top of the 'silverseek' page).

http://forums.silverseek.com/archive/index.php/f-29.html

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9 years 25 weeks ago
 
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The main "ingredient" in these type of water filters is activated carbon (made from coconut husks!) & a silver compound (can't remember which though). Brita are okay but there is also an alternative called "Aqua Optima" who do filters that retro-fit in most filter jugs. Quicker filtering & cheaper. Not seen them yet in China though I'm sure they have CCC approval. 

 

(Disclaimer - I used to work for the company that makes the AO filters though not in that department) 

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9 years 25 weeks ago
 
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As always, fakes abound.  Know what you're buying.  JD.com is useful as a starting point.  The full-on, Made-in-Germany, import duties-paid Brita / Maxtra filters are 369 for a 6-pack.

 

I have the 18.9L bottles delivered.  Coca-Cola's water division.  Thought about a Brita at one time, but the pipes are so old and the water so alive in my little district that the filter would probably spit the water back out. 

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9 years 25 weeks ago
 
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So far as I am aware, Brita style filters are supposed to improve the taste of potable water.  They are not intended for use with unsafe water.

 

I had a look on the Brita website but I could not find a reference to this, but Wiki says this:

 

"The BRITA filter is not intended to purify water, and should not be used with water that is microbiologically unsafe or of unknown quality. Individuals requiring microbiological purity should follow the advice of local health officials for water purification."

 

I reckon this will apply to all gravity fed filtration systems.

 

So far as I know, the tap water here should not be considered potable straight from the tap. It needs to be boiled to kill any nasty microbes which may be present. Or, to safely filter water here, I think you would need to go for the proper kit, such as that made by  

 

http://www.katadyn.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

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9 years 25 weeks ago
 
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Just added a bonus question.

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9 years 25 weeks ago
 
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Hey Xunliang. I actually have a Brita filter bottle now - the filters are supposed to clean out some of the impurities, and I don't fill the bottle with tap water, but with water from those 18.9L dispensers. I heard that there are some chemicals in that water that I'd rather filter out if I can. Better safe than sorry I guess.

 

For other stuff I am extremely easy going though, I will boil my pasta in tap water, but then if I make risotto I will use drinking water (feels like more of the water stays in risotto when compared to pasta...), teeth I use tap, veg and fruit I use tap too but I do soak the vegetables to get all the pesticides off properly. 

 

What about you? For the veg/teeth/etc.

xunliang:

I actually just bought a filter that screws onto your tap from online.  It's supposed to clear out the heavy metals and chlorine, not sure how well though. We've started using that for washing veg and stuff.  But the problem with Shanghai water at least, is the antibiotics they add to the water. Apparently there are 60-70 different antibiotics they add to the water to "clean" it, but they just kill all the good and bad bacteria in your body.  No way around it I guess. I use bottled water for cooking and cups of tea etc. 

9 years 24 weeks ago
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sm90:

Yeah if that's the case you'd want to use bottled water as much as possible... I don't know - I just buy the big bottles and deal with that, never considered getting a filter on my tap, might be a good idea though.

9 years 24 weeks ago
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9 years 25 weeks ago
 
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Answers to your bonus question:

Teeth - tap water

wash veggies - tap water

Coffee - boiled tap water

Drinking cold - from the big bottles through a chiller

Cooking rice and pasta - tap water

 

Not dead yet but I do notice the consistency of my stools is way different in the UK compared to here. A lot more "looser" shall we say in China......

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9 years 25 weeks ago
 
Posts: 456

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Brita is a charcoal,filter and will filter out some minerals etc but not bacteria. It makes the water taste better. There is a ultra violet filtration system I have seen in Canada that does the whole bit, but it might not be available in China. There is also  the reverse osmosis system that does the whole bit. Lok it up on your PC.

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9 years 24 weeks ago
 
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