Water Quality & Home Filtration Resource Center

You can pay a little more for freshly roasted coffee or carefully selected loose-leaf tea, weigh all ingredients, and use a proven formula to the last degree. Even so, the finished cup can still feel disappointing. One reason your coffee and tea may taste better or worse is the water: its mineral content, hardness, and overall quality change how flavors and aromas are extracted during brewing. Often, the overlooked variable is the water itself. Since coffee and tea are made almost entirely of water, what flows from your tap plays a much larger role than many people realize. Its mineral content...

What concerns Americans most about their drinking water? For most households, the biggest worries are the taste, odor, and appearance of tap water, as well as aging water infrastructure and its potential impact on water quality at home. Americans rely on tap water throughout the day, often without giving it much thought. It's used for everything from brewing coffee and cooking meals to filling reusable bottles before heading out the door, so even small changes in smell, taste, or clarity quickly become noticeable and can affect daily routines, household costs, and confidence in the local utility. The public's concern does not stem...

Drought does not begin affecting a community only when a reservoir is nearly empty or a riverbed has dried up. Long before conditions become that severe, reduced precipitation can begin changing surface-water supplies, groundwater levels, utility operations, water demand, and source-water quality. Your faucet may continue to work normally throughout a drought, but the water system behind it may be operating under increasingly difficult conditions. Quick answer: Drought can reduce reservoir storage, streamflow, groundwater recharge, and well productivity. Water utilities may respond by changing water sources, increasing groundwater pumping, modifying treatment, introducing conservation measures, or imposing water-use restrictions. The exact...

Tap water is more than H2O. Depending on its source and treatment, it can contain naturally dissolved minerals such as calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, iron, manganese, and silica. These minerals help explain why tap water can taste different from one city to another—and why some homes deal with white scale, cloudy glassware, orange stains, or dark deposits while others do not. Quick answer: Calcium and magnesium are the main minerals responsible for water hardness and scale. Sodium can influence taste without causing hardness. Iron can produce reddish-orange staining, while manganese is associated with darker staining. Silica and potassium may also...

Drinking Water Filtration Guide Activated carbon, reverse osmosis, gravity-fed filters, water softeners, distillers, and ultraviolet systems all treat water differently. This guide explains how the major technologies compare and how to identify the right type of drinking water filter for your household. Who This Guide Is For Municipal water customers Private-well owners Homeowners Renters and apartment residents Families comparing technologies Buyers evaluating Berkey systems Table of Contents How to choose a water filter Common water concerns Compare filtration technologies Quick technology decisions Best filters by situation Compare Berkey system sizes Complete buying guide Frequently asked questions Water Filtration Technologies at...

Holiday Gift Guide The most memorable gifts are often the ones that become part of everyday life. A Berkey® gravity-fed water filter is practical, durable, and easy to use—making it a thoughtful household gift for parents who appreciate useful products more than short-lived holiday novelties. A Practical Gift They Can Use Every Day Holiday shopping for parents can be difficult. They may already own most of the things they need, and another decorative item may not feel especially meaningful. A household water-filtration system is different because it can become part of a daily routine for drinking water, coffee, tea, cooking,...

Buying a home is really exciting. But honestly, we have to be realistic. There are many things to consider when you are looking for a home.  You are looking at neighborhoods, checking the price of the home, taking a close look at the layout of the home, and making sure the home inspection is done properly. With all these things going on, it is easy to forget about something like the water quality in the home. The water in your home is something you use every day. You use water to fill your coffee pot in the morning, you use...

When you go to a grocery store, you will see people pushing carts that are full of bottled water. At the moment, more people are choosing to filter their drinking water at home.  Both ways are popular. They both work. It really depends on what works for you, your money, and how much water you use every day. Lately, people have been talking about this more. Food is getting more expensive. People want to use plastic, and families want to be ready in case the water does not work.  So, some people are wondering whether they should keep buying water...

Why Does My Tap Water Taste Bad? 7 Common Causes Homeowners Should Know You go to the kitchen faucet to get a drink of water, fill a glass, and take a sip. Then you think this water tastes funny. It might have a metallic taste, or it might smell like chlorine. Maybe it even tastes like dirt or something. Sometimes the water looks a little cloudy, too. This can be really annoying, right? It makes you wonder if there is something wrong with the water in your house. The thing is, tap water can change a lot. It is not the...

Many believe drinking more water can help the skin look healthier and more youthful. It’s a very appealing theory since it suggests that something as easy as a daily habit could affect how our skin looks as we age.The reality is somewhat different.Research supports the need for hydration for overall health and healthy skin, and water makes up about 50% to 65% of body weight, so total fluid needs matter. Water plays a variety of roles in the human body, including supporting the skin's structure and barrier function. Skin cells depend on water to transport nutrients and eliminate waste. With...

Have you ever traveled to a place, taken a sip of tap water, and thought, "This tastes different from the tap water I am used to drinking"?  Well, actually, you are not imagining things. One thing people notice when they travel is that tap water does not taste the same as it does at home.  In some places, tap water tastes crisp and refreshing. Tap water may have a slightly sweet, earthy, metallic, or noticeably chlorinated taste.   Sometimes the difference in the taste of tap water is small. The other times, though, the difference in tap water taste is the first thing you notice when...

Water Conservation & Efficiency Guide If your area gets frequent rain, saving water can seem unnecessary. But annual rainfall is only one part of water security. Water must be available at the right time and place, stored or captured, treated when necessary, and delivered through infrastructure with enough capacity to meet demand. Using water efficiently helps communities manage all of those constraints—even in rainy climates. In This Guide Rainfall vs. usable waterSeasonal supply & peak demandInfrastructure limitsPopulation growthThe water-energy connectionEcosystems & groundwaterConservation vs. efficiencyWays to save waterRainwater harvestingFrequently asked questions Why Save Water If Your Area Gets Plenty of Rain?...

Choosing between the Big Berkey Water Filter and the Royal Berkey usually comes down to one main question: how much filtered water does your household use each day? Both systems are stainless-steel, countertop, gravity-fed filtration systems. Both use Black Berkey® Elements. Both operate without electricity, plumbing, or water pressure. The biggest difference is capacity. The Big Berkey holds 2.25 gallons, while the Royal Berkey holds 3.25 gallons. For most households of 1–4 people, the Big Berkey Water Filter is the best balance of size, capacity, price, and countertop convenience. The Royal Berkey is better for households that want more stored filtered...

Reliable drinking water is something most people expect without giving it much thought. It flows from the tap every day, and under normal circumstances, there is little reason to think about what happened before it reached the kitchen sink. That everyday convenience depends on an extensive network of treatment plants, pumping stations, storage facilities, transmission mains, and neighborhood distribution pipes. Much of this infrastructure has been operating for decades. Utilities continue to inspect, repair, and upgrade these systems, but age inevitably changes the work required. Equipment lasts only so long, and keeping older systems operating reliably often calls for more maintenance,...

A good rain can feel like a fresh start. It helps plants grow, cools everything down, and fills up rivers, lakes, and reservoirs. So, of course, a lot of people think that rain automatically makes the water better. But honestly? Sometimes, after a really big storm, the opposite happens.   When rain falls quickly, and the ground can't soak it up, the excess water starts flowing across the land. As it moves, it picks up dirt, fertilizer, dog poop, leaves, and dirt from the roads.     And yes, it carries all that into the water. So, what ends up in a river or...

People know that eating well, staying active, and getting enough sleep are important parts of healthy aging. Regular checkups are important, too. But honestly, one thing people often forget is to drink enough water.  Drinking water is simple, though. Water helps your body do many things every day. Water supports digestion, helps move nutrients through your body, and regulates your temperature. It keeps your body running smoothly from day to day.    When you do not drink water, even small things can feel more tiring than usual. You can literally feel this in your throat.  As people get older, drinking water can become a little harder...

Bottled water is something we all buy without thinking. We might pick up a case when we go grocery shopping every week.  We grab a bottle on our way to work after exercising or while doing chores. It seems like a normal or cheap thing to buy, especially when it only costs a few dollars.  When we buy something every day, those small costs can quietly add up. Drinking water is not something we buy once in a while, after all.  We buy it again and again throughout the year. Since the cost is spread out over purchases, it's easy...

Most people think about exercise and food when they want to lose weight. Water usually gets ignored. It feels like a not-so-big deal, so people push it aside. Yet, your body really needs water, especially when you work out.  Even a little bit of dehydration can make a difference. If you lose 2 percent of your body water, it can affect how well you do in your workouts. You might feel more tired, slower, or weaker. That can change how long you exercise and how hard you try.  If you are trying to manage your weight, this is important. Drinking...

Can Drinking More Water Help You Lose Weight? What Science Says Water is often called a weight loss trick. You have probably heard it before. Just drink water, and the weight will go away. It sounds easy. Almost too easy.  So it is fair to ask. Does it really work? The truth is a bit more realistic. Water will not melt fat by itself. It will not replace eating a healthy diet or exercising regularly. It can still help in ways that are easy to miss.  For example, drinking water can help you feel more in control of your hunger....

You probably do not think about what you drink every day. A soda with lunch, a milk tea in the afternoon, maybe a bottled juice or an energy drink when you feel tired. It feels normal. It is part of your routine, right?  What often gets missed is this: drinks add up. Not just in sugar. In calories, too.  Most of the time, people do not even count them. You might be careful with your meals. Those extra drinks quietly add up.  Over time, that can make a difference. Not overnight. Little by little. It is one of those habits...