If you're going to buy drinking water filters, let me tell you a little about some of the popular ones.
  I've looked at the top ten products on the market and, believe me.
  Some of them are not very effective.
You see the Brita drinking water filter advertised everywhere.
  Both the pitchers and the faucet mount types are very popular.
  They sell them in department stores and on TV.
They are made by the Clorox Bleach Co.
  They're very cheap to buy, but this type of drinking water filter has a very short lifespan.
  So, in the long run, they cost more to use, then other more effective products.
The pitcher only removes about 75% of the chlorine and 93% of the lead.
  The list of things that it does not remove is much, much longer.
   The faucet mount device is more effective, but still does NOT remove THMs, VOCs or MTBE.
THMs or trihalomethanes are released when chlorine interacts with aquatic life; bacteria, algae, etc.
  They are known to cause cancer in humans.
  There are many drinking water filters on the market that remove them.
  It's not that difficult to do, but for some reason Brita decided to forego the step.
VOCs are volatile organic compounds.
  There is some debate about which substances are VOCs and which ones are not.
  But, mostly they are gases like methane and compounds like perchlorate that are flammable or explosive.
Why do you need a drinking water filter that will remove them?  Some of them cause cancer.
  Others disrupt the endocrine system.
  Still there are others that mess with the thyroid gland, which can cause all kinds of health problems.
  None of them are good for your health.
  Most of them are in your water.
  Perchlorate alone has been found at over 800 different testing sites.
MTBE seeped into groundwater from leaking underground gasoline storage tanks.
  It's only a "possible" carcinogen.
  But, it does affect taste and smell.
  Only two drinking water filters on the market remove MTBE.
Another highly advertised drinking water filter is PUR.
  The latest marketing campaign, that I saw, showed an African woman giving her small child a drink out of a cup with PUR on the front.
  Advertisers come up with some great promotions.
The ad seems to imply that PUR drinking water filters could be used to clean heavily contaminated waters like those in Africa.
  The truth is that PUR costs a little more than Brita and does even less.
It won't remove the most common weed and bug killers.
  It won't remove benzene, which may be the most common water pollutant of all.
  We have the technology to create a drinking water filter that removes all of the synthetic and organic chemicals present in our waters.
  We can remove parasites that are immune to chlorination.
  We can remove lead and other metallic traces.
  All of this can be done for a reasonable price.
Why would anyone buy drinking water filters that are ineffective?  The only reason I can think of is that people don't know the difference.
  Well, now you know.