I’m sure we can all agree that drinking plenty of fresh water is essential to good health. The average adult body is made up of approximately 60% water, so it is no big surprise water has a profound effect on keeping our body functioning properly. For example, water assists in flushing harmful toxins out of the organs, acts as the delivery system for carrying nutrients to the cells, regulates body temperature, and keeps our tissue moist. Water consumption has even been found to aid in weight loss.
The Cost Of Bottled Water
How much water should you drink per day? To remain healthy and prevent dehydration it is recommended to drink eight 8 oz glasses of water daily, but the amount of water needed can vary depending on how much a person weighs, climate, and activity level.
Lets try and figure how much drinking only the eight 8 oz glasses of water a day would cost a single person who purchases bottled water. According to Newdream.org “Break the Bottled Water Habit” calculator, most 16 oz bottles of water cost $1.50. If you drank 4 bottles every day for a year it would equal 1460 bottles. Now to be fair we have to calculate and subtract the cost of tap water per gallon so lets use the national average cost which is 0.002. The total cost of drinking bottled water, instead of tap, per year is $2, 187.08. —–GULP!
How about the impact? Are you ready for these frightening results?
Total water consumed = 228 gallons
Extra water required for production and purification = 456 gallons
Energy required for manufacturing = 147 megajoules
Oil required to produce the plastic bottles = 26 gallons
CO2e to manufacture plastic bottles = 274 pounds
SCARY!
But Isn’t It Cleaner?
People drink bottle water because they believe they are getting cleaner water than tap water and it tastes better. Unfortunately, the truth is bottled water does not necessarily offer purer water than drinking tap and the taste isn’t always better.
Bottled water is defined as a ” food” so it falls under the scrutiny of the Food And Drug Administration while tap water is regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA is much stricter and tests for harmful contaminants several times a day where the FDA enforces the bottle companies to test only once a week. Depending upon the brand, your tap water might be actually cleaner.
In fact, allaboutwater.org states one fifth of bottle water brands tested positive for the presence of synthetic chemicals, such as industrial chemicals and phthalate. Phthalate is a harmful chemical that leaches into bottle water from its plastic container and has been found to disrupt the endocrine system. Furthermore, the bottled water companies are not required to test for cryptosporidium, a chlorine resistant protozoan that can cause severe gastrointestinal illness.
Cuisinart CleanWater Countertop Filtration System
Even though tap water might be purer than bottled water it still can contain over 2100 known contaminants. The EPA reports lead in drinking water contributes to nearly 480,000 cases of learning disorders in children in the United States per year alone.
The only way to ensure you are getting the best clean water minus the contaminants is to use a good filtration system like Cuisinart CleanWaterCountertop Filtration System. The very attractive brushed stainless steel appliance gives the convenience of dispensing great tasting purer water right on your contertop. The 2 gallon machine ( the one I received to review) supplies 500 mL piping hot water (194°), 800 mL of cold water (44 °), or room temperature water.
The counter top filtration system significantly reduces lead by 98.7%, mercury (92.8%), benzene (84.1%), cadmium (96.6%), copper (85.0%), tetrachloroethylene (92.5%), and toluene (89.8%). It also eliminates 97.5% of chlorine taste and odor leaving you a much fresher tasting water which encourages you and your kids to drink more.
Other features include
- Blue/red LED lights indicate when water is ready
- Energy Saver reduces energy usage by more than 50%
- Green LED lights up when Energy Saver feature is activated (hot water is off)
- Removable water tank
- 2 spigots
- Flip top lid for easy filling
- Upper Tank- holds 1/2 gallon of unfiltered water
- Lower Tank – holds 1 gallon of filtered water
- Hot water button with child lock-Push safety lock up, then press to dispense hot water
- Room water button -press to dispense room temperature water
- Cold Water Button -Press to dispense chilled water
- Fast water flow
- Filter included
- Limited 3 year warranty
The filter included has a long life. It filters up to 80 gallons of tap water, lasts the average of 3 to 4 months, and is certified by the Water Quality Association.
My Thoughts About Cuisinart CleanWater Countertop Filtration System
This is a great appliance eliminating the need to buy costly bottled water and is perfect for anyone who wants fresh hot, cold, or room temperature water available at their fingertips.
I have several Cuisinart appliances and they have lasted and performed excellent for years. The Cuisinart CleanWater Countertop Filtration System has fast become one of my favorite appliances because it makes my life easier by being so convenient! There is no waiting to heat water to pour a cup of tea, coffee, or cocoa and cold CLEAN water is right their ready to be dispensed on my countertop. It makes cooking easier too!
What I also love about it, is the child safety lock located on the hot dispense button. Little curious fingers love to push buttons and this protects from a child becoming scalded with hot water. LOVE it!
I place this appliance on my hot hot hot Christmas gift list!
Buy it
The Cuisinart CleanWater Countertop Filtration System can be purchased at Amazon.com, CHEFS Catalog, Cuisinartwebstore.com, Irawoods.com, Neiman Marcus, and Sur La Table!
More about Cuisinart (quoted entirely)
“Cuisinart, universally known for introducing the food processor in America, is a leader in culinary appliances, professional quality cookware and kitchen accessories. The company’s cutting edge reputation can be seen on numerous fronts, from industry-first products and design awards to sponsorships of culinary events and TV cooking shows. Cuisinart manufactures a full range of products under the tagline, “Savor the Good Life®.” These products include cookware, countertop cooking appliances, blenders, stand mixers and coffeemakers, as well as food processors, toasters and toaster ovens, ice cream makers and waffle makers. For more information, please visit Cuisinart’s websites: www.cuisinart.com, www.cuisinart.com/baby and www.cuisinartstandmixer.com.”
(FTC disclosure : In adherence to the recent FTC changes pertaining to blogger product reviews and sponsored postings it is necessary (even though I have a full disclosure on my site) to add when ever I receive any compensation in return for posting about a company or product. I received the Cuisinart CleanWater Countertop Filtration System listed in my review for testing. No further compensation was received. Even though a free product was received, the opinions were of my own. )
Wow, this looks awesome! We have water filtration for our fridge, but the fridge water comes out soooo slow. Plus I would love something like this to use for cooking and baking water. Thanks for sharing!
I really like that it holds a whole gallon of filtered water. The water pitcher we use doesn’t even hold half that and I’m constantly refilling it.
Thanks for sharing this information. I had a conversation just the other day about how many water bottles we go through each day as a family of four. I’m not crazy about the added expense for bottled water but tap water is so ewwww…
Im glad you shared about this filtration system as I will be looking into options soon. I will keep this one in mind.
Thanks for sharing.
Oh wow I HAVE to try one of these. I use a pitcher system in my downstairs fridge, and a micro for th hot water. This would be PERFECT.
I follow you on my email. just love entering the sweepstakes.
I love ice cold water and drink mostly tap since I forget to fill the filtered pitcher in the fridge. The bottled water I reserve for on the go and I usually refill those with tap. This is a great idea to have ice cold filtered water at my fingertips right on the counter.
DH would love this. We fill up our pitcher a lot. DH really drinks a lot of water 🙂
This is going on my want list if I don’t buy it for myself before Xmas!!!!
That’s cool! I could use something like that. Our town water here tastes funky. I don’t have room for a full sized water cooler, so this would fit the bill.
Oh I would love this. The boys drink a lot of water in their sippies. Great review.
I could definitely use something like this. Great review.
That is just too awesome!! I must have one!! Great review!
Drinking water filter systems are not created equal by any means. There are standard cartridge filters systems, reverse osmosis systems and specialty cartridge systems like Aquasana. So which one should you look at? A standard cartridge system typically uses a sediment and carbon and/or specialty filter. For most homes using city water, this is actually a great system for such an economical price. Specialty cartridge systems like Aquasana are exactly the same thing except you are forced to use their filter. http://www.isopurewater.com