I never used to think about the water we drank.
In fact, I thought most people who worried about whether their water was filtered were a little high maintenance. I was a self-proclaimed “tap water girl.”
It was only once we were preparing to leave Okinawa a few years ago that I started to take a second look. A friend of mine explained how being a military base, a lot of chemicals had been buried into the ground or leeched into the ground from chemical spills and that it’s nearly impossible to get out of the water.
I stood there silently as I recalled going through my entire second pregnancy and a year of breastfeeding while drinking the potentially contaminated water.
Not a soul ever said I shouldn’t drink the water.
And as recently as May of this year, Japanese officials have continued to warn local nationals NOT to drink the water surrounding Kadena Air Base due to unsafe levels of contaminants. Even the Washington Post covered this big controversy.
After digging deeper into some of the water issues at Camp Lejuene and bases in South Carolina, it became obvious to me that this was an issue I was no longer willing to take a chance on.
Adding fuel to the fire, was a recent article that detailed numerous military bases that tested too high for dangerous water chemicals.
Here’s the hard part.
Halting the use of dangerous firefighting foams and switching to “safer” options is a start; however, the remnants of past chemical contamination remains. Once it’s in the water table, it’s not all that easy to get out.
Three Colorado communities are looking at an 11 million dollar bill to clean up their water due to firefighting foams used at Peterson Air Force Base.
Many military bases tout safe water.
I get it.
The drinking water might be safe.
But, I’m no longer willing to play Russian roulette with my drinking water, only to find out two decades later that it contained contaminants known to cause cancer and organ failure.
There’s another problem for military families with any water contaminants near military bases: It is very hard to prove.
With military families moving every few years, it’s difficult to know which water source may have contributed to disease. A disease that may not show up for 10-20 years.
To go back and say, it was this base that we lived at 15 years ago is a hard thing to do.
Regardless if the water is deemed safe or not, we do not drink the tap water.
For a while we were purchasing water from a reverse osmosis water station and filling four 5-gallon jugs once every week to week and a half. We would pour it into a water dispenser and used it for everything from cooking to drinking to making coffee.
The only problem with the jugs is they are heavy, and when we ran out of water, we would need to make a trip to the water station and get them refilled. On top of that, reverse osmosis does not reduce volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) or endocrine disruptors.
At home water filters like a Brita or PUR, aren’t enough. They offer basic filtration by reducing chlorine, but are not effective at removing VOCs, heavy metals, endocrine disruptors or fluoride.
(Side note: If fluoride has any benefit, it would be directly to the teeth, as drinking the fluoride has not been statistically shown to increase oral health at all. Additionally, fluoride has been linked to thyroid problems and other disorders when consumed internally.)
To read more on water filtration options and see all the pros and cons, check out this post on water filtration options from Wellness Mama.
Here’s what we use now:
Berkey recently gifted us a water filter and dispenser, and we will never go back.
The Berkey filter gets out…
- Fluoride – Removed to greater than 99.9%.
- Viruses – Removed to greater than 99.9%.
- Pathogenic Bacteria – Removed to greater than 99.9%.
- Lead – Removed to greater than 99.9%.
- Arsenic – Removed to greater than 99.9%.
- Iron – Removed to greater than 99.9%.
- Mercury – Removed to greater than 99.9%.
- Chlorine – Removed to greater than 99.9%.
- Trihalomethane(THMs) – Removed to greater than 99.8%.
- Bisphenol-A – Removed to greater than 99.9%.
- Chloramines – Removed to greater than 99.9%.
- Pharmaceuticals – Removed to greater than 99.5%.
- Petroleum Contaminants – Removed to greater than 99.9%.
- Methylcyclohexane-methane – Removed to greater than 99.9%.
- Pesticides – Removed to greater than 99.9%.
- Heavy Metals – Removed to greater than 99.1%.
- Coliform and e-Coli – Removed to greater than 99.9%.
- Atrazine – Removed to greater than 99.9%.
- Uranium – Removed to greater than 97.0%.
- Gross Alpha emitters – Removed to greater than 98.7%.
When it comes to filtering water in your home, this is the best you can get. You can read more about the Berkey test results here.
It’s really easy to use.
All you do is add more water in the top. It goes through the filter and into the bottom reservoir. Then viola, place glass or pitcher under spout and dispense. It’s easy to take with us if we are going camping or traveling somewhere with the car. Just take along and filter as you go. It saves on buying bottled water and the plastic waste that goes along with all of that.
Berkey has all different types and sizes of water filters, but the one we have is the 1.5 gallon Travel Berkey.
Here are all the features that come along with the Travel Berkey…
- Great for 1-3 People
- Comes Standard with 2 Black Berkey Filters at $249 (4¢ per Gallon!)
- 2 Black Berkeys Filter Approx 6000 Gallons of Water
- Storage Capacity: 1.5 Gallons (5.7 Liters)
- Height: 19″
- Diameter: 7.5″
- Portability: The upper chamber nests within the lower chamber for transport and stands only 12″ in height
- Weight: 8 lbs (2 BB Elements)
- Max Filters: 2 Black Berkeys (upper) + 2 PF-2 Fluoride Filters (lower)
To help give back and spread the word about Berkey filters, I’ve partnered with Berkey to giveaway a 1.5 gallon Travel Berkey to one of YOU.
In order to enter, all you need to do is two things:
- Comment below about how you consume water – via the tap, a filter, a water station or something else.
- And include in your comment if you’re thinking about making a change.
This giveaway will be open for one week (closes Aug 10, 2019) and I’ll name the winner in the comments and email the winner to get the shipping information. The water filter and dispenser will arrive to your doorstep directly from Berkey!
Want more on military life?
- The Reality of Surviving a Surprise PCS Move
- 13 Totally Awesome Military Spouse Facebook Groups You Didn’t Know About
- To My Military Spouse Friends…You’ll Never Know
- 21 Best Deployment Quotes for Military Spouses and Significant Others
Ashlee
We use the water from the fridge filter system
Lindsey
We use a Brita Pitcher. We lived on base, but we recently moved a town over. While I’m not AS worried about the water, it still concerns me because we’re only a town away from base. I’ve looked into a Berkey several times, but never taken the leap because of cost.
Mattie Fleming
I’ve always been picky about my water. I grew up on filtered well water, so that pretty much ruined me. We are using a Zero Water pitcher now, but would like to switch it up because it’s made of all plastic. I recently was introduced to a Berkey filter at my cousin’s house. Since then I’ve been looking into Berkey and all the goodness it offers. I am currently pregnant with our first, so lotsss of water intake is essential for me and baby. I know the Berkey filter system would be a great fit!
Adriana Carrazco
I had no idea the water on bases could be that bad. We have a Primo water station we got from Sam’s Club. We refill our two 5 gallon jugs once evey 2wks. My husbands new orders are for Japan and we are moving there for 3yrs. The water situation is definitely scary thing and I need to make sure our water is as filtered as can be. For my families health especially my daughter. I’m sure whoever wins it will be putting it to good use.
Natalie Martinez
My family and I currently use a water delivery service (Sparkletts) that deliver us (3) 5-gallon bottles of water. I have been with the company almost 10 years I love the service and so does my family. I want to continue using them but we may not be able to once we leave to our FDS. We are definitely trying to find out the next best thing.
Katy D
We currently use a PUR pitcher filter. This is not the first time I’ve heard of the questionable water quality among military installations. Even after discussing with my husband, he does not make it a habit to drink the filtered water. A friend at our current base has a Berkey filter (I believe this same one) and absolutely loves it. I would love to have a reliable filter to feel comfortable with our consumption.
Tes Crittendon
We use water filter. Now I am freaking out. Ever since I got pregnant, we’ve been super careful of where we get our water. We used to use tap water but when I was pregnant, I smelled pretty bad odor from our tap water. I did my research and switched over to filter water.
Alyssa
We drink from the fridge filter but it’s probably long overdue for a filter change.
Filtering water better would be a great option if it wasn’t hundreds of dollars.
Brittany Glassman
We use the fridge filtration, I also use Kor water bottles with a mini filters and my husband uses a Britta water bottle.
We always love finding & trying out new filter brands to see which works best for us!
Kait
Right now loving on base we’ve been using a tap filter. This has been on my mind awhile and I hope there’s can be a better solution soon.
Amanda Stout
We are a navy family. I guess you could say I’m high maintenance- I always have a filtered water bottle with me.
Tap water around the globe, (Sounds crazy) but I can taste the difference.
I have a friend who has a Berkey; but I couldn’t afford to get one for my home.
For now, we have Brita pitchers, water bottles and filters in our fridge.
The only tap water I’ve ever not questioned is in ARUBA.
The island is very proud of their clean water.
Kathryn
– We currently live at Fort Bliss, TX and we knew something had to be wrong with the water when we got here because the fridge we have in on-base house has a water filter built in! (We’ve never seen that before!) It still doesn’t taste very good unless it’s freezing cold.
At all of our other duty stations prior to this one, we’ve bought cases of water, gone through various Brita filters, then a Pur filter, then a Zero filter which I think worked the best out of all of them, the water actually tasted great but we ended up going back to plastic bottles whenever my husband would deploy because it was easier on me with the kids??♀️
– I would LOVE to make a change, reading about this has made me seriously reconsider what I’m allowing into mine and my family’s bodies.
Holly
Here at Polk we have generally been drinking our tap water and the water that goes through the filter in our refrigerator. I had never really thought about it as I grew up drinking well water. Thanks for posting this and I will definitely be considering changing our water habits!