After many years selling water filters and more recently kitchen filter taps for filtering water. At The Tap Store we decided to investigate the facts behind filtering tap water by installing and using our own filter tap. We installed an Abode Atlas Aquifier filter tap.
Some interesting facts first!
The Cost
Tap water costs just 0.22p a litre.
Supermarkets cheap own brand costs up to 45 times more at 10p per litre.
Even Brita claim their self fit filters for kettles and jugs costs 4p per litre which is 18 times more expensive than tap water.
Well known French brands cost around 31p per litre, some 140 times more expensive than tap water.
Britains Usage
Britain imports about 25 per cent of its bottled water, the vast majority from France.
The average Briton drinks 37.6 litres of bottled water each year (Bottled Water Information Office).
In 2006, the UK consumed 2275 million litres of bottled water (Bottled Water Information).
While Britons drinks an average of 37 litres per person a year. The French drink 141 litres, the Mexicans 169 litres and the Italians have the highest per capita consumption at 184 litres.
The Environmental Impact Of Bottled Water
2.7million tonnes of plastic are used to bottle water each year worldwide (EPI, 2006).
22million tonnes of bottled water are transferred each year from country to country (CIWEM).
In 2006, 1.5million barrels of oil were used to make the 26billion litres of bottled water sold in the US. Enough to fuel 100,000 cars for a year. (EPI, 2006).
Three out of four plastic bottles are still not recycled (WRAP 2007).
Bottled water has a higher carbon footprint per litre than tap water - more than 300 times the CO2 emissions per litre in the case of some imported brands.
According to the Container Recycling Institute, 90 percent of PET bottles end up in landfills, at a rate of 30 million a day, where they take 450 years to break down.
Plastic bottles take up to 450 years to decompose in landfill.
An estimated two gallons of water are wasted for every gallon of water purified to put into a bottle.
Tap Water
Many people don’t drink straight from their taps at home or work as they believe its not safe to do so. They don’t like the smell or taste and believe there may be bacteria present.
UK tap water contains safe levels of chlorine to make sure it’s clean.
The taste and content can also differ by region and can affect the taste of your water. Your water can pick up minerals such as calcium and magnesium as it journeys underground to reach your tap.
Why Filter Your Tap Water?
Filtering your tap water will improve the appearance, taste and smell. The filters reduce the amount of chemicals in the water that are used to clean it before it reaches your tap. They will also will reduce limescale content and many contaminants.
These contaminants are often responsible for the taste and odour in your tap water.
Filter Performance
The average filter depending on the areas water type typically filter around 5,500 Litres of tap water or around 6 months cartridge life.
Filter taps will filter down to around 5 micron. A human hair is 70 microns wide.
A typical filter process (Abode Aquifier)
Stage 1 Cellulose fibre sediment filter
Stage 2 Granular activated carbon removes unwanted tastes, odours and chlorine
Stage 3 Scale Crystal Treats the water reducing the effects of hard water
What's Available
Filter systems can start from as little as £30-£40 for an in line filter without a sink top tap. This is fixed into your copper pipe system feeding your cold water tap or even your American fridge Freezer. This usually hides under the sink and needs plumbing in by a professional plumber.
Many manufacturers have now added filter taps to their range as they realise the growth for demand from consumers to have a classic or modern design tap that fits in with their kitchen but has the added benefits of being able to provide filtered water.
Most of these taps have your standard hot and cold levers plus an additional third lever for the filtered water flow.
Filter taps available at The Tap Store typically cost anything between £200 and £600 depending on style, manufacturer and material i.e chrome, stainless steel etc. Remember the same tap without the filtering facility can cost a few hundred pounds.
The most popular Filter taps available in the UK today are offered by Franke, Abode, In Sink Erator, Perrin & Rowe to name a few. All these established manufacturers taps are all available to purchase from The Tap Store.
The Tap Store’s Evaluation
After calculating everyones weekly spend at The Tap Store on bottled water. We decided to road test the claims of the manufacturers and install a water filter tap in our company kitchen.
We installed an Abode Atlas Aquifier filter tap.
Installation
The installation by our local Plumber took less than 1 hour at a cost of £50. It was installed neatly under the sink and the new tap replaced the old tap on the work surface.
Set Up
We flushed the tap for 20-30 seconds to remove any old water from the pipes. Then adjusted the flow rate on the blue tap under the sink to try and set 2-3 litres of running water per minute. The manufacturer states that the slower the water rate, the more contact the water has with the filter and so more sediment is filtered out.
Visual Test
We filled two glasses of water, one filtered and one unfiltered. Then held each glass to the light with a piece of white paper behind to see if there was any difference visually?
The filtered water just looked like sparkling clear water as you’d expect. No real result we thought.
Surprisingly the glass containing non-filtered water had a brown tinge to it. We emptied the glass to make sure it wasn’t a fluke and refilled it. The water was actually slightly tinged with a brown sediment.
Taste
Everyone agreed the taste from the filtered water matched if not bettered the bottled water they were using.
Some people even washed their salads in the water and claimed it tasted better.
Not forgetting the removal of the unsightly scum found floating on the top of your tea or coffee.
Our Cost
We estimated that we all saved around 70p each per day on bottled water. The Abode Atlas Aquifier Tap retails at £216 and £50 to fit. Total £266.
10 of us used a bottle a day giving a £7 saving. So the new tap paid for itself just with drinking water in 38 days, not taking into account the usage for tea and washing food etc.
The replacement filter retails at £40. That’s only 6 days usage to cover the cost for the next 6 months or so!
First Filter Change
The manufacturer recommends changing the filter every six months. On inspecting our filter after 6 months we could see the original white filters where now beige from contaminants.
Conclusion
The Filter Taps do make your water taste and smell much better. The evidence is in the filter after 6 months use. You can see what you would have been drinking or washing your food with prior to filtering.
We’ve all saved money against using bottled water plus the hassle lumping it around and remembering to buy it from the supermarket is now a distant memory.
Oh and our company kettle doesn’t fur up anymore so he's very happy. Plus the tea tastes great!
Happy Filtering!
The Tap Store Team