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
Caylin
My husband drinks tap water, I refuse to (I use a PUR filter). I have never liked drinking tap water, I’ve always thought it was gross. I guess rightfully so! Lol. I felt so safe with my PUR filter, but now I’m gonna look into more details of this and other options! I don’t particularly want to use a bunch of plastic water bottles though :/.
Erica
We currently live on Camp Pendleton and have reverse osmosis for our drinking water and a whole house water softener. In our previous home here we had a water delivery service for drinking water only. We are given the base water reports regularly and they make me cringe. If a could afford a better filtration system than what we have now I would do it in a heartbeat.
Heather
We currently use the PUR water filtration system through our refrigerator. However, since having our first child we’ve become much more concerned as to whether that is enough. Always looking to learn more and expand our awareness of the potential dangers and affordable solutions.
Erin Mazel
Hello. I used a Shaklee pitcher with a filter for years. My last 2 assignments we’ve had a refrigerator water system in the door with a filter that makes up 90% of our drinking water.
Colleen H
We just moved to a new base, have been drinking from the tap but I’m not convinced the waters fine to drink.
I’ve been wanting to get filtered water system for health purposes & to be more environmentally friendly than refilling plastic jugs.
Sandra Blua
We use a water service because the water here is disgusting. i would love to use a Kinetico water filtration system again, buts it’s impossible to take it with us with all the moves.
I would really love to not have to pay for a water service and have a on demand water filtration system that we can take with us through all the PCS we have coming.
Delani
I’ve been wanting to try the Berkey filtration system for some time now but haven’t wanted to spend the money on it because the Brita filters are considerably cheaper. The water here at the base my husband and I are stationed near reeks of bleach so we use a Brita daily. After reading this, I might just have to bite the bullet and get the Berkey! We even fill our water bottles before going to the gym just so we don’t have to fill them up at the water fountains at the gym in base ? this was a great article!
Erica Brown
We currently drink tap water, though it is filtered through our fridge. After reading this article, I really am curious about the water test results at Fort Hood! I had a positive blood test for arsenic, and I wonder if the water was the reason. My husband was deployed at the time, so he’s off the hook haha. But seriously, the first test was at a high range, and the second test a couple months later was an “acceptable level,” whatever that means. We recently had someone test the water at our new house, and the amount of solids and chlorine in the water were crazy. The company that tested the water wanted $8,000 for their filter system. Let’s be honest, soldiers don’t make enough to throw that much money at the water, especially when they have large families like us. We would love to have a filter system that we know works, so thank you for the opportunity to compete in the giveaway!
Pearl Stokes
We currently use water from a few sources in our home. Tap water, filtered from the fridge, & occasionally bottled water from the store have all been options for us in the past. I’ve slowly become more aware of what is in our water and what could potentially be in the water that we are unaware of. Reading this article and seeing my healthy friends make a change with a Berkey filter has encouraged me to want to make a change to. With cleaner water, it would be easier to stay hydrated and motivating to keep our food and drinks cleaner while at home and on the road. We enjoy traveling, but one issue we commonly come across is how different the water is from town to town and the waste of plastic bottles as we travel. With a Berkey filter, we can camp our hearts out without worrying what type of water we are consuming and cooking with. We look forward to our new Berkey!
Myia
Right now we drink the filtered water from the refrigerator. But I have looked into the Berkey and always wanted to get one.
Lara Maguire
Right now we use Pur filters but I would love something that lasts longer. I only just found out about the Berkey this last month and was pretty intrigued by it, definitely would be worth the switch.