No points for guessing the name of the most famous water purifier - yes Brita water filters are indeed most popular. Without questioning their credibility or effectiveness, let me ask you an un-biased question. Do you know why it is so popular?

Is it because it is really the best or is it because they are available at a cheap price or is it simply because the company has decided to spend a lot of dollars in advertisements and publicity? I am sure by the time you finish reading this article, you will have this answered.

Let’s begin with the basic requirement of what we think Brita water filters or any other water purifier should provide.

(i)  It should be able to remove all types of contaminants from water.

These contaminants include chlorine, fluoride, bacteria, virus, drugs, cysts etc.

Now though Brita water filters are based on advanced technologies, they are still not effective for tough contaminants like TTHMs (Total Trihalomethanes) and VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds).

TTHMs are the chlorine derivatives which are extremely hazardous for our health. They are known to be related with bladder and rectal cancer. VOCs are the compounds found in paints and gasoline and are freely available in drinking water. They are known for causing various gastrointestinal disorders.

With so many varied types of contaminants present in water, the need of the hour is to combine more than one filtration techniques. This is exactly what a multi stage water purifier does. It uses the combination of cutting edge techniques like carbon filtration, sub micron filtration and ion exchange. This is the reason why it is able to effectively remove virtually all contaminants from water.

(ii)  It should be able to retain essential minerals in water.

Natural water contains some essential minerals like sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium etc which are very much required for the basic functioning of our body. A good purifier should never remove these minerals from water.

This is definitely an acceptable criteria for Brita water filters as well as for multi block water purifiers which unlike the ones based on Reverse Osmosis, do not deprive the water of these important minerals.

(iii)  It should be reasonable priced, easy to maintain and consumer friendly.

Quality water as well as easy maintainability - both are indeed very important in the long run. Brita water filters are indeed reasonably priced, in fact way less than that. But what is more important than the one-time cost is - the recurring cost which is not at all competitive as compared to multi stage water purifiers which works out at something as low as 9 cent per gallon.

One more limitation with Brita water filters is their size. If you are living in a big family or you need to configure it to purify all the taps in your home, these filters may not be able to provide much help. Instead the multi stage water purifiers are available in a wide range of sizes and choice of installing it over or under the counter. They are also available in the form of whole house water filters which eliminate the need of having separate units for the kitchen and each one of your bathrooms.

The conclusion - no water filter is bad. They are anyway better than consuming unfiltered water. Do some research - compare the various options available and choose the one which you feel is right.