You’re thirsty. You walk over to the kitchen sink, turn on the tap, and fill your glass with cold, sparkling, pure, clean water. Or is it?
Recent national news stories about water safety have us thinking about our own water supplies. Here in rural northeast Ohio, many of us have wells, but concerns arise when our properties are surrounded by farm fields on which farmers may be spraying…we don’t know what.
Those of us with city water rely on the wisdom and honesty of local officials to keep our water safe, even when some older water pipes could contain lead or other contaminants.
For these reasons, many Lehman’s customers and employees choose to filter our drinking and cooking water. But which filter is right for your household? There are many options, and we’ll cover the basics of several here.
Filters – for Everyday and Emergency Use
Without a doubt, the Big Berkey is one of our best-selling filters. We offer it with black elements included. These will do the following:
- Remove chemicals (including herbicides and pesticides) and chlorine to below detectable levels
- Reduce pathogenic bacteria, viruses (MS2 – Fr Coliphage) and parasites by more than 99.9%
- Remove sediments, iron, foul tastes and odors
- Reduce up to 95% heavy metals like lead, mercury, aluminum, chromium and copper
See the details about all our Berkey water filters and elements here.
What if you need to filter larger amounts of water on a daily basis? We recently developed our own water filter with bigger families in mind – it can filter up to 24 gallons a day! A 3-stage filtering process removes bacteria, cysts, sediment, bad tastes and odors (see a complete list here).
On the go? The Berkey Go Kit is specially designed for backpackers, campers, students and traveler. Weighing under 2 lb, it includes a portable 22-oz water purifier bottle to use anywhere; a stainless steel 1-qt passive purifier with Black Berkey® element for the cabin, campsite, dorm room or workplace; and priming button. You get a handy nylon drawstring bag for storage and travel, too.
Water Storage for Emergencies
Country dwellers know well the challenges of a power outage which can leave us without running water for hours, or even days. But there are some simple ways to be ready for this kind of annoyance, even if it develops into a major situation. Many people keep food safe buckets of water in their basements or other storage areas as a precaution – it’s simply wonderful to be able to pour water down the toilet to flush it when the power is out!
These buckets work well for food as well as water storage:
For storing larger quantities of water, we recommend a storage/filter unit that’s specially designed for emergency situations, like this one:
It holds 30 gallons and collapses when not in use (so you don’t have to store bulky barrels if you don’t have space). A pump is included to transfer water from the tank, and its red line filter removes 99.9% bacteria, cysts and viruses for safe drinking water. Plus, it’s all made in the USA.
An easy way to “filter” water without a filter is to use our Emergency Drinking Water Tablets. Each one disinfects a liter of water, removing bad tastes and odors and viruses, bacteria, Giardia and Cryptosporidium so tyour water is safe for drinking or cooking. Effective against viruses, bacteria, Giardia and Cryptosporidium. Simply add a tablet to a quart of water and let it sit away from sunlight for four hours.
Have a well? Live in an area where power outages are common? You may need a well bucket. This ingenious tool helps you get water from your well when the power is out and works at any depth. An Amish craftsman makes them just for us, and many, many people have relied on them over the years. One customer said, “”Have a property that I visit on weekends. It had a well, but the pump and plumbing were shot. Rather then spend thousands of dollars to get a weekend’s worth of drinking water, I got this. Works wonderfully. It is also nice to know that in the event the power goes out, we’ll never know the difference. An excellent survival tool.”
Browse the Water section of our website to find lots more home water solutions, and always have confidence in that glass of water you’re drinking!
Questions about one of our filters or water supplies? Email us at info@lehmans.com, or give us a call at 800-438-5346. We have certified water experts on hand to help you!
Editor’s Note: This article was first published in March 2016.
