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December 31, 2004

Rush to get clean drinking water to survivors


"From All Corners, a Rush to Get Clean Drinking Water to Survivors in Stricken Areas" as reported by Denise Grady and Lawremce K. Altman for the New York Times."Nobody was prepared for a disaster of this magnitude, said Vanessa Tobin, chief of water and sanitation for Unicef."

So for this last day of the year tanker trucks, pumps, disinfecting kits, and even bottled water, as reported in my blog are being rushed to the victims of this awful natural disaster.
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Posted by Stephen Betheil at 04:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 30, 2004

Elvis Water Brings $455 Bid on eBay

Well you thought you heard it all. "Purported Elvis Water Brings $455 Bid on eBay" reports from Miami, FL by Reutersand syndicated to KATC3 News in Acadiana, LA this unusual story. Apparently Elvis drank some water from a styrofoam cup at his last concert, three months before his death in 1977. The left over several teaspoons of water was auctioned on ebay.com and fetched $455.00, frozen not including the cup. Amazing story to me.
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Posted by Stephen Betheil at 05:28 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 29, 2004

Christian Science Monitor: World on the Verge of Water Cartel

"Forget OPEC. The next cartel may export drinking water." says Mark Clayton of the The Christian Science Monitor. An entrepreneur, Terry Spragg, is apparently filling ocean-going bags full of clean water for sale to water-poor nations. According to the article " If that seems far-fetched, consider that less than 2.5 percent of the world's water is fresh. That vital resource is threatened by pollution, waterborne disease, and shifts in rain patterns caused by global warming, recent studies show. All of which, in some eyes, leaves the world on the verge of a scramble by private companies and countries vying for rights to available water." Interesting and scary stuff.
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December 28, 2004

Greater Drinking Water Problems in China

A published report today from Suzhou, China, "300 mln people drinking unsafe water" says that some 300 million people, primarly in rural areas, are drinking unsafe water, despite the government of the Peoples Republic of China dedicating a lot of money to the problem.
Wang Shucheng, minister of Water Resources blamed the poor drinking water on polluted rivers and lakes in China. "To safeguard drinking water safety is the top priority of Chinese government's efforts to protect water resources, Wang said." All I can say is their problems with drinking water sound much worse than here in the U.S.
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Posted by Stephen Betheil at 05:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 27, 2004

Bangkok Post: Drinking Water Heading South

The Orange County Water District (California) is suing several companies that it contends has failed to clean up toxic chemicals that could contaminate the underground water supply. "Orange County Water District sues companies for alleged contamination"tells the story. It is wonderful to read about a municipal water authority getting after those that pollute our precious water sources in the name of profit. As a supplier of water filters I truly believe that tap water is our best source for drinking. It is municipal authorities like the Orange County Water District who illustrate why I am right. If only the bottle water industry was so straight forward with the public.
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Comments, trackbacks, blogroll, email subscriptions

We've added a few new features here in the past day.

Posted by Griff Wigley at 08:36 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 24, 2004

Bottled Water Flim-flam

I have posted many times here before about the bottled water industry's deception. How with all the false statements, and the most problematic of omissions, that of the actual sources of the water that is processed for each bottle, we are fooled. Well here is confirmation, once again, that others also feel the same way. "Bottled Water Flim-flam" by Krista Camenzind, says it all once again.
"After testing more than 1000 bottles of water from 103 different companies, the NRDC uncovered microbial content in excess of state guidelines in one-third of the brands it sampled. The NRDC also discovered synthetic organic chemicals in one-fifth of its samples, usually at levels below state and federal limits."

On another note, I do want to wish all who read this a very Merry Christmas, and also a good supply of water you can depend on, an by that I mean not from a bottle.
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December 23, 2004

Good News! State water ban lifted.

If you check out my December 16th blog, "A time for filtering water?", I wrote about the contaminents found in the drinking water in several Massachusetts communities. Well good news for one of them today. "State water ban lifted: No trace of perchlorate found" has said the drinking water in Tewksbury is clean. It gives me no greater joy than to publish this news, as a partial retraction of my previous blog.
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December 22, 2004

Chemical Contamination in Upstate New York Drinking Water

Clear Water Action, an environmental group, has released the findings of the New York State DEP that indicated elevated levels of the contaminant perchlorate in nine upstate communities. This finding included the Mount Greylock Regional High School in Williamstown, NY. Read "Group releases findings on drinking water". The blames the EPA for not regulating the contaminant. This is not the first time I have pulished or hear this kind of report. It is another good reason to use water filters.
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December 21, 2004

To Filter or Not to Filter?


"To Filter or Not to Filter?"is the last section of that FDA article I wrote of yesterday. It correctly states that it is much cheaper to filter the water from your tap, then to purchase bottled water. It does make one statement, however that is incorrect. Stew Thornley of the Minnesota Department of Health in the article says "that consumers need to be careful about maintaining these filters. Typically, specific instructions are included with the purchase of the product. Without proper maintenance, he says, it's possible bacteria or other contaminants can build up in the products." I guess Stew never heard of KDF based maintenance free water filters which create a hostile environent for and bacteria to form, as in our Model 2400.
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Posted by Stephen Betheil at 06:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The Cure May be Worse than the Disease

Apparently EPA agrees that chorine being used to remove bacteria from municipal water supplies is not healthy and a substiute should be developed. Apparently according to "Drinking water treated with chloramines found to contain highly toxic chemicals, says EPA" the search for alternative additives to chorine for the municipal water systems, have been shown to be much more toxic than what they have found using the chorine.

According to Michael J. Plewa a genetic toxicologist in the department of crop sciences,"This research says that when you go to alternatives, you may be opening a Pandora's box of new DBPs(disinfection byproducts),and these unregulated DBPs may be much more toxic, by orders of magnitude, than the regulated ones we are trying to avoid."

Well, just get one of our maintenance free water filters and you will never have to be concerned about when and if the EPA mandates a change in the standards for the disinfection of municipal water systems.
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Posted by Stephen Betheil at 03:36 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 20, 2004

Very Scary

I found this on the web: "Environmental Health Issues Water Cancer & Chlorine". This article, contains statements by several doctors that all agree that there is a link between drinking chlorinated water, as supplied by most municipal systems in the U.S. and cancer and other maladies.

Now as you know, removing the chlorine from your drinking water is simple. Any of our maintenance free water filters can do that cheaply and easily. I am no alarmest, but this is a very troubling piece of research.
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Posted by Stephen Betheil at 06:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The FDA and Bottled Water

The Food and Drug Administration has supplied a comprhensive guide for U.S. consumers, "Bottled Water: Better Than the Tap?". In it they explain how bottled water is regulated under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act). This is because bottled water is transported over state lines. Under this Act, the Agency does inspect bottling plants. They do not inspect or regulate the source of the water. This is the inherent flaw in bottled water. With wide distribution and multiple sources of the water supplied to the bottling plants, there is no standard, and moreover, no disclosure from suppliers of bottled water, just where it comes from. Even the FDA in this article agrees that tap water is just as safe. They also say that as for taste and odor, they recommend you filter at home, just as the bottled water manufacturers do at the bottling plants.
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Posted by Stephen Betheil at 01:18 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 19, 2004

Tis' the Season

Forgive me for a bit of self-promotion. It seems to me that the one of the most thoughtful gifts you can give anyone on your list this holiday season, would be a water filter. As a reminder, our Model 2400 supplies 5000 gallons, maintenance free, or five years worth of pure tasting and odor free drinking water, at a cost of just $39.95. This is also suitable for those of you who have wells, as long as your source has been tested and showed that the only problem was taste and odor.

Another wonderful gift, if there is a woman on your shopping list, would be one of our wonderful shower filters, which remove chorine, which takes the nutrients from their hair, and dries their skin. Just starting at $34.95 for at least a eighteen months of much more manageable hair and softer skin.

Water filters, the gift that truly keeps on giving.
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Posted by Stephen Betheil at 01:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 18, 2004

Aquafina, another case of deception

Deception can take many forms. One look at the Aquafina website and you will discover their deception though omission. Yes they explain in a very beautifully done demonstration how they use reverse osmosis to purify their water. The same system, by the way, you can purchase from waterfilters-r-us, model P3500ro, for the bargain price of $199.95. What Aquafina fails to tell us is exactly where they source the water to input into the reverse osmosis system. At least if you buy ours, you will know where yours comes from. What is Aquafina hiding? I bet we all would be surprised and very nervous about their product.
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December 17, 2004

Another good reason to filter your water

We have have always said the the best reason to filter your drinking water is to improve the taste and odor of it. Here is another surprising one. The Kansas City Star reports "Household chemicals contaminate drinking water, testing shows". Well once you read it, you will agree that the best thing the article says is that the contaminants found were trace amounts so small as not to create a risk to the populace. Still, it also could not hurt to use one of our maintenance free water filters, each featuring three micron filters. Just a thought.
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December 16, 2004

Prozac, found in drinking water?

I thought after years in this water filter business, I had heard it all, at least until now. The BBC reported that diluted amounts of Prozac has been detected in the drinking water accross the Pond. Fortunately they do say it was diluted amounts and did not pose a real threat to the British populace. What the article made me think about was that here at waterfilters-r-us.com, we offer one replaceable cartridge which removes vertually any contaminent to drinking water imaginable, except arsenic, our Model # P2901rc. Very honestly, we never considered the need to filter out Prozac or any drug for that matter. You never really know do you?
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December 15, 2004

Dispelling an Internet Rumor

There has been a rumor spread all over the internet that drinking water from plastic bottles, if frozen, was dangerous. In,"Researcher Dispels Myth of Dioxins and Plastic Water Bottles" written by Rolf Halden, PhD,PE, assistant professor in the Department of Environmental and Health Sciences at the Center for Water and Health, at John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Health, he addresses that rumor. Quoting directly from the article, Dr. Halden states "First, people should be more concerned about the quality of the water they are drinking rather than the container it's coming from. Many people do not feel comfortable drinking tap water, so they buy bottled water instead. The truth is that city water is much more highly regulated and monitored for quality. Bottled water is not. It can legally contain many things we would not tolerate in municipal drinking water." I have been saying the same thing repeatedly in my blog here, as well as elsewhere on this website.
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Posted by Stephen Betheil at 05:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 14, 2004

A time for filtering water?

The Boston Globe reports some problems with trace amounts of contaminants, including MTBE, found in 17 communities in the State. The article, "Report cites trace chemicals in water Warns of dangers from non-regulation" is alarming. Well, I hope these communities find their way to this website. It is for situations just like this that we carry such an array of water filtering products here.
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Posted by Stephen Betheil at 04:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 13, 2004

A Piece of Good Water News for a Change

It seems that the government of Ontario, Canada, has taken step to beef up the laws protecting its water supply. "New rules to protect Ontario's water"says that these are "tough new rules on those who take water from the ground and is taking stronger measures to protect watershed-based sources." Nice to write here about a government that cares about their environment and puts it funds towards protecting it.
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Posted by Stephen Betheil at 05:54 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

RSS: syndication and aggregation

We've now added RSS to this weblog. What's RSS?

It's a radio signal for a website, most commonly used for weblogs. More technically: "Rich Site Summary (RSS) is a lightweight XML format designed for sharing headlines and other Web content. Think of it as a distributable "What's New" for your site." See Intro to RSS for more info.

The Newspaper Association of America site has an informative article titled Syndication Made Simple. "Just as free e-mail newsletters enable publishers to directly reach readers and promote online and in-paper content, RSS "pushes" headlines and succinct, one-sentence article descriptions to those who subscribe to the no-cost feeds."

The other side of syndication is aggregation. Here's an article from Wired News that explains why aggregators are all the rage: Aggregators Attack Info Overload.

Lastly, here's the Wikipedia citation for RSS.


This icon is the cue that we're RSS capable. So train your aggregator to grab content from the Water Filters R Us syndicated weblog. The live link is on the top right of the weblog page.

Posted by Griff Wigley at 02:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 10, 2004

Water, Water, Everywhere

Go to the site Nestle Water North America. The brands posted there, and the sources of the water quoted simply boggle the mind. Under U.S. Brands, Arrowhead, Calistoga, Deer Park, Great Bear, Ice Mountain, Ozar, Poland Spring, and Zephyrhills. Imported brands Aberfoyle, Acqua Panna, Perrier, S.Pellegrino, and Vittel. While all these brands date back a long time ago, The Nestle Company wants you the consumer to believe that the source for them has remained the same. As I have written here in the past, Poland Spring for one, and it follows for all, with their massive distribution, have multiple sourcing for their product which is never revealed. If they did reaveal it for all these brands there would sure be lots of embarrassment I am sure.
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Posted by Stephen Betheil at 08:01 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 09, 2004

Evian Bottle Water From the Alps?

The pristine website of Evian Bottled Water describes in beautiful prose, just how their water starts as rain water in the Alps. This is most definately a fairytale. They admit to doing a huge business all over the world and that their sources of water match up with those from the Alps. Other than telling us that, they make no mention of where these other sources are. Well I for one think their beautiful website is just that and nothing more. Their muliple sources of water are as great a mystery as any other bottled water supplier. Consumers beware.
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Posted by Stephen Betheil at 06:56 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

More what it means to be from Maine

Hey they even say they tested the water at Poland Springs, and offer this chart on their webpage.

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December 08, 2004

Socorro, New Mexico Joins Drinking Water Arsenic Study

The EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency, has lowered the level of allowable arsenic in drinking water, and Socorro,NM has joined the pilot program for disadvantaged communities to test ways of dealing with the new guidelines. Arsenic in water has been a problem in mostly the western part of the US. The lowering of the standard for arsenic in drinking water is indicative of the Federal Government's policy to play roulette with the public health. Meanwhile the study is testing four methods of cutting arsenic in the drinking water. I wonder if one of them is the only NSF certified, carbon block filter system like our model cbtas Maybe the EPA should visit this website?
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Posted by Stephen Betheil at 09:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

What it means to be from Maine

Well, if you really want to know, you may be sorry you asked. Just go to the homepage of Poland Spring Water Just go to "Our Natural Spring Water" and you will learn that "What it means to be from Maine" is maintaining 75 sites accross the country. A bit confusing? Here's more. They play an active role in the International Bottled Water Association. Now, that should make every consumer really comfortable with drinking their product. They are the industry marketing arm that protects and certifies the quality of the water; in 75 sites for just Poland Springs alone, not to mention all the other members. I open this site by telling you just why water quality experts agree, that properly filtered tap water is much safer and held to a much higher standard than any bottled water brand even if it has the nerve to state "What it means to be from Maine", and show an idyllic picture of a wooded natural spring on its bottles.
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Posted by Stephen Betheil at 05:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 07, 2004

More expensive ways to filter water

We all would agree that most consumers think faucet mount water filters are the most efficient way to filter their water. Well a replacement cartridge for a PUR faucet mount water filter, Model # RF-4050, capable of a paltry 100 gallons capicity, and diconted for on line sale, is $23.98. Once again, if you are interested in efficiently improving the taste and odor of your tap water, our Model 2400with a 5,000 gallon capacity, will last for five years, and cost only $39.95. This may explain why we do not carry a faucet mount water filter here; they are simply inefficient and too expensive to operate.
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Posted by Stephen Betheil at 05:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Another Water Filter Industry Secret

Inside the water filter industry, it is well known that all water filters that are certified by NSF International, are tested to double there published capacity. To you the consumer, that means that when those Led diode displays turn red on a water filter, indicating to change your cartridge, depending on your water quality, you do not have to act all that fast. Now, don't get me wrong, there is a reason for changing filters when indicated, and that reason is safety. All I am saying here is that there is no need to panic and to stop using the filter immediately. By the way, it is for this reason that we state that our model cbtas, replacement filter for the removal of arsenic, which has a 600 gallon capacity is still good for one year usage by a family of four, depending on water quality.
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Posted by Stephen Betheil at 01:36 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 06, 2004

Brita-expensive way to filter water

Well here is proof that our model 2400 mantainence free water filteris far cheper than the ever popular Brita pitchers. Three Brita replacement filters at Amazon.com sell for $19.99. Each will filter 35 gallons of water improving the taste and odor. This means that six Brita filters would filter 210 gallons of water and cost $39.98. For $39.95, you can buy our model 2400, and improve the taste and odor of the water for 5000 gallons, and never have to change the cartridge. Need I say more?
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Posted by Stephen Betheil at 04:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 05, 2004

Bad bottled water even in Ghana

I was searching Dasani on google and came upon this statement by this division of Coca-Cola Company, concerning the voluntarary withdrawl of Dasani in the UK. It says "the withdrawal is a precautionary measure". You can read it and judge for yourself. To me it sounds like a screw up. Researching this a bit further I found this article published just when the withdrawal occurred. It is called
"Coca - Cola Admits That Dasani is Nothing But Tap Water" Seems there is more to this withdrawl than Dasani wishes to admit.
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December 04, 2004

Bottled Water According to Canada

The Food Directorate is part of a national food safety system that involves Health Canada, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and provinces, territories and municipalities. They have compiled a listing of questions and answers concering bottled water sold in Canada. As no surprise to me, the matter of bacteria in bottle water was discussed. The answer, according to the article is "Bacteria are found in most bottled waters sold for drinking purposes." Nice to know that in Canada, they are honest with their consumers, and admit what we in the U.S. sometimes fail to.
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Posted by Stephen Betheil at 05:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 03, 2004

I have said before: Beware of bottled water

I came accross this most comprehensive article concerning the quality of bottled water, compiled by the Natural Resources Defense Council(NRDC) It is titled Bottled Water Pure Drink or Pure Hype? Well, with that title, and my belief that properly filtered tap water is far superior to any bottled water brand, you can understand why I liked this article. I guess I am not the only voice which does not think much of this huge bottled water business. Let me know what you think.
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Posted by Stephen Betheil at 09:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 02, 2004

Arsenic in water

Well, please forgive me for some redundancy, but what brings this on is another article from CNN Interactive, this time from the Earth Study page titled Filter cleans arsenic-tainted water. It is about engineers from the University of Connecticut's Critical Tecnologies Program developing of a water filter that would remove arsenic from drinking water. Well, once again I feel it necessary to point out, that on this website we have the only carbon block water filters certified by NSF Internationl (National Sanitation Foundation) to remove arsenic from drinking water. The advantage of it being a carbon block filter is that it not only removes the arsenic, but also vastly improves both the taste and odor of the water. I guess this is just an example of how far water filter technology has come, as the CNN article is six years old.
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Posted by Stephen Betheil at 11:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 01, 2004

CNN and Water Filters

Well it seems CNN first says water filters add lead content to waters, but then in the same article states it is the brass fittings on some faucets. Some home water filters may make lead problem worse. Well it is nice to know that many of our filters reduce lead content in water, and as they are counter top in nature, they deliver drinking water immediately after they have filtered it. At least CNN said some water filters, not all. So, instead of touting toxic water filters, they should be touting toxic pumbing.
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