Does it filter out the flouride?

July 12, 2006 6:57 PM

Calculate the overall lifetime dollar value of using a Brita (or similar filter) versus the costs and savings, including general impact on healthcare costs, etc, associated with using tap water.

Obviously there are any number of factors which can't be accurately projected, including but not limited to where you are, inflation, the availability of Brita filters, etc. I was inspired to ask while pondering whether a Brita was worth it's while, or if they just have me convinced they are.

posted by andifsohow to Grab Bag (27 answers total)

your body won't necessary live longer and justify the cost alone that way. if you need filtered water for recipes, housework, or such, or you just like the taste, then the dollar value is quite high.

the human body can survive for quite awhile with nothing but a shopping cart, cardboard box, bottle of Thunderbird, and a keen sense of dumpster diving, but is that value to you?
posted by kcm at 7:01 PM on July 12, 2006

If your tap water is quite clean already, I don't really believe there are any real health benefits to using such a thing. If it filters out flouride, you could have increased dental bills (I compare my generations dental health to my parent's generation).

I understand that there are certainly benefits in the sense of taste, it depends on what the tap water is like where you live. Where I live it's excellent - collected in mountain reservoirs, but I've travelled to many places where it's heavily treated, and I would have liked a filter there.

A cheap way of making water taste better - put it in an open glass jug with a cloth covering the top to stop dust and bugs, and leave it for a few hours. The chlorine seems to evaporate, particles settle.

I've also seen filters advertised on the basis that they remove all the bacteria from water. Living in too sterile an environment has been linked to increases in allergies, so bear that in mind too. You're not likely to be risking serious illness by drinking tapwater in a first world country.
posted by tomble at 7:06 PM on July 12, 2006

Brita's really just a taste filter. I think it claims to remove lead and some other things too. Not sure on the flouride. For real hardcore "cleaning" of water, something more heavy duty is needed.
posted by GreenTentacle at 7:15 PM on July 12, 2006

Awhile back, I was wondering if it filtered out the flouride. I found out that it leaves the flouride in the water.
posted by roomwithaview at 7:25 PM on July 12, 2006

my dentist recently told me that Brita does filter out the fluoride. But I also read that only children need fluoride for their teeth. I also read that there was a big conspiracy a long time ago that linked a certain politically connected aluminum manufacturer with a cheap easy way of disposing of their waste byproduct (fluoride) by dumping it in America's drinking water. There is less definitive information out there about fluoride than there is about the whereabouts of Osama Bin Laden.
posted by any major dude at 7:35 PM on July 12, 2006

Tomble is right...my parents would put tap water in an open pitcher in the fridge. Not only would it be nice and cold, but letting it sit allows any chlorine in the water to evaporate. That's the same reason why you're supposed to let water for a pet fish or sea monkeys sit overnight before you put them into it. And hey, if it's good enough for sea monkeys, it's good enough for tastybrains.

That said, we do have a Brita, but honestly I usually just drink straight from the tap anyway out of sheer laziness. And if I truly thought that my local tap water was not drinkable, I wouldn't think a Brita would help it much - I'd go straight to bottled water.
posted by tastybrains at 7:38 PM on July 12, 2006

But I also read that only children need fluoride for their teeth

Children may need it somewhat more than adults, but one of the things my dentist asked me when I had several cavities at once a while ago was whether I was drinking a lot of bottled water, thus missing the flouride I would've gotten by drinking tap water.
posted by ch1x0r at 8:02 PM on July 12, 2006

Well, at least they claim the fluoride stays.

Does BRITA reduce / remove fluoride ?

The BRITA Water Filter System does not remove fluoride from tap water. Fluoride is a negatively charged ion and does not react with the components of the BRITA Filter Cartridge.

- Brita FAQ
posted by roomwithaview at 8:27 PM on July 12, 2006

It tastes better and works well with some spirits.
posted by cmfletcher at 8:34 PM on July 12, 2006

Better or not (and it DOES taste better than our generally pretty good tap water), my kids drink more water now that it's filtered than they did before. So do I. And we think that's a good thing.
posted by lhauser at 9:18 PM on July 12, 2006

There is less definitive information out there about fluoride than there is about the whereabouts of Osama Bin Laden.

Not true.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 10:33 PM on July 12, 2006

According to this study, if your tap water is of good quality there is no statistical health benefit to use of a home purification system.
posted by nanojath at 10:41 PM on July 12, 2006

My friend's doctor told her that people do not wash the jugs or change the filters enough. Bacteria builds up and you can get sick. He also said that the recommendations for changing the filter are based on family use. If you have a small household, you should change the filter more. So you might want to factor in higher usage than you might otherwise have considered.
posted by acoutu at 10:59 PM on July 12, 2006

This isn't strictly within the area of your question, but, if you find yourself buying bottled water, and you anticipate that the Brita filter will replace those purchases, it's a lot easier to save money on the deal.
posted by box at 11:10 PM on July 12, 2006

I use Brita only because the water tastes better. Paradoxically, the tap water that tastes the best can be the most harmful. The water in Vancouver tastes great, and is very pure at its source, but it picks up all the asbestos, lead, etc., from the dams and pipes along the way. The terrible tasting water in Saskatchewan coats the pipes with minerals, preventing contaminants from leaching into the water and ending up in your body.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 11:40 PM on July 12, 2006

It tastes better and works well with some spirits.

Very true. Take your cheapest vodka or whiskey, run it through a Brita two or three times and it becomes as smooth and buttery as the really expensive stuff.
posted by randomstriker at 4:40 AM on July 13, 2006

If you drink coffee, a Brita filter can make a huge difference in the taste. Chlorine will react with certain compounds in coffee.

Otherwise, your tap water is safe to drink, and the only reason to filter it is to make it taste better. I don't put cost estimates on taste. However, if tasting better helps you stay hydrated, there's a definite health benefit.
posted by eriko at 5:10 AM on July 13, 2006

Take your cheapest vodka or whiskey, run it through a Brita two or three times and it becomes as smooth and buttery as the really expensive stuff.

Better. Get a bunch of activated charcol and a long tube of tap-safe plastic, and make a long filter column. Much cheaper.

Note that filtering whisk[e]y isn't going to make bad whisk[e]y into good whisk[e]y, it'll just make it less obnoxious. However, it does do good things to Vodka.
posted by eriko at 5:13 AM on July 13, 2006 [1 favorite]

The biggest impact that Brita filters have is on taste. All tap waters (in the US anyway) have to follow EPA clean drinking water standards. Those standards are designed so that a lifetime use of water is not a significant health hazard. That doesn't mean that the occasional hazard won't appear in tap water. Almost everyone in Milwaukee will remember the cryptosporidium crisis several years back.

But overall, tap water is much safer to drink than most bottled waters. If you value taste of tap water, then a Brita filter is an investment that really can't be quantified.
posted by JJ86 at 6:44 AM on July 13, 2006

Also note for the most part, a standard Brita filter is charcoal filtration with an added ion filter. This does not remove fluoride.
posted by JJ86 at 6:51 AM on July 13, 2006

We use a Pur filter that attaches to the faucet, and it tells us when to change it. We think it's very convenient, and we drink a _lot_ of water. Plus, we don't have to store water in a plastic pitcher (less to clean, water whenever we need it, less counter space used).
posted by amtho at 7:14 AM on July 13, 2006

amtho mentioned: We use a Pur filter that attaches to the faucet, and it tells us when to change it.

Brita makes them too but I prefer drinking chilled water from the fridge over tepid tap water. Actually chilled water holds more dissolved oxygen which makes it more refreshing.
posted by JJ86 at 7:29 AM on July 13, 2006

Brita makes them too but I prefer drinking chilled water from the fridge over tepid tap water.

1. Run filtered tap water into jug.
2. Place jug in fridge until cool.
3. Pour, sip, and enjoy.
posted by hangashore at 7:56 AM on July 13, 2006

According to my dentist I got too much fluoride when I was young, which actually impeded the development of my tooth enamel.
posted by Hallucinosis at 10:22 AM on July 13, 2006

We have excellent, tasty tap water in Detroit. I still use a Pur filter (used to use a Brita) for the water I make coffee from. My home roasted beans demand the best.

For cooking, drinking and everything else, I use regular tap water.
posted by QIbHom at 12:45 PM on July 13, 2006

I use a Brita filter.

I like it because it makes the water taste better. My feeling is that it's unlikely to have any other benefical quality.
posted by ikkyu2 at 4:59 PM on July 13, 2006

I use a Pur (faucet) filter too, since our local water is very, very heavily chlorinated -- so again, the taste issue more than the health issue.

The only health drawback I can see is from drinking water that's been in contact with plastic for a long time. (A reason why plastic bottled water may actually not be a net positive; I think there's no really good research on this yet, just lots of ominous signs about this or that specific kind of plastic in certain applications.)

With the Pur, water runs through the plastic fixture even when you are not running it through the filter. So it runs through the plastic even when you're running hot water for doing dishes, eg. Recently I've been wondering if this will coat my dishes with bad plastic by-products. If anyone knows anything about that, I'd love to hear it. Otherwise, I guess, there are just too many things to be health-paranoid about already.
posted by LobsterMitten at 9:44 AM on August 6, 2006