A Berkey water purifier not only protects people in times of emergency in hostile environments where electricity, water pressure or treated water may not be available.

They are powerful and economical systems for everyday use as well. In fact, my family has used one every day for many years. We depend on it to protect us from all the contamination which still invades our water supply even though it’s treated.

I recently read an article which said California drinking water supplies are contaminated with nitrates. Scientists said high levels of nitrates are associated with “blue baby syndrome,” reproductive disorders and cancer.

It is said that chemical fertilizers and livestock manure are the main source of nitrate contamination in groundwater and this is affecting nearly one million residents in the state.

I did further study and found it is also used to make glass and explosives. Both nitrates and nitrites are used extensively to enhance the color and extend the shelf life of processed meats as well.

This University of California, Davis study found one in 10 people in this particular study rely on untreated groundwater that may exceed the nitrate standards.

Berkey Water Purifier Reduces Nitrates

The black Berkey filters eliminate so many harmful things. Sometimes I take them for granted and forget all it filters. There are things it completely removes such as trihalomethanes and pathogenic bacteria.

There are other things it reduces to almost 100% like heavy metals like mercury and aluminum.

One of the critters it reduces greatly is nitrates. What a huge relief! It also reduces nitrites, rust, silt and sediment so you know you are more safe.

Whether you are drinking from groundwater or treated water you need the safe and secure feeling knowing that nitrates aren’t going to be a problem.

Berkey Water Purifier Much Cheaper Than Large Scale Treatment

The study concluded by saying cleaning up polluted aquifers would be too difficult and very expensive. In fact, they said it might cost $20 million to $35 million per year for California and the only way to get that kind of money is by more oppressive taxes.

The great news is that a Berkey water filter doesn’t cost much money at all. It literally is the world’s most powerful and cost effective personal water purification system available.

You can get the basic Travel Berkey system for around $228 while the bigger Royal Berkey system can be had for around $290. All systems come with a set of black Berkey purification filters which last one year depending on how much you filter each day.

I feel really bad for those dealing with nitrates in California but it’s affecting just about every area and it gives my family peace of mind knowing our Berkey water purifier is keeping contamination out.

Image: Master isolated images / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

There is quite a bit of talk surrounding emergency food supplies and storage but what about water preparedness?

Food is very important, we all know that. Who likes to even go a half day without food? Not me!

Water is even more important though. It’s hard to go an hour without water and the thought of possibly not having any is really hard to fathom.

What about natural and man-made disasters though? What about disruptions in our city’s water supply? What about contamination? What about all the junk in our water today?

Water Preparedness During Emergencies

No matter where you live there is the possibility of emergencies cropping up out of nowhere. I happen to live in the south where it seems every month except November and December there is some sort of tornado warning because of crazy weather.

How would I provide water for my family if we lost our house? What if the whole neighborhood get’s flattened?

Am I really going to enjoy standing in a line for a few bottled waters? Absolutely not!

Maybe you live in an area with earthquakes, hurricanes or snowy regions. Are you prepared?

I have thought about the possibilities of having to deal with water contamination and even the thoughts of having to get my water from a stream, lake or river.

I’ve recently been thinking about emergency water storage. I’m really not liking the idea of filling dozens of two liter bottles with water. Where would I put them?

Water Preparedness – My Solutions

This has been a really tough subject for me only because it’s as if I don’t want to face reality. I’m living each day as if the water from my faucet will always be flowing and I’ll be able to filter it properly.

I’m sure many people thought their money was safe and then the year 2001 came around and poof! In the years since many, many people have lost almost everything.

They weren’t prepared. I don’t want to be them do you?

My first solution is having portable water purifiers on hand. I have big ones and I have small ones. They are all easy to transport and they’ve been tested to eliminate most harmful contamination.

My second solution is acquiring some sort of emergency water barrel I can keep in the garage. It holds a lot of water and can sit in the corner with no problems.

I’m not sitting here claiming to know everything about emergency preparedness water but I do have natural instincts. What about you?

Please leave a comment at the end of this post because I want to know your thoughts on water preparedness.

Image: Master isolated images / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

When talking about a portable water purifier, many people automatically think of hiking, camping, survival or doomsday scenarios.

There is nothing wrong with that because those are all fine and legitimate. If I were to talk about that with many of the people I interact with they might just blow me off.

Portable Water Purifier – Why Me and Why Now?

This is the question that arises especially for the typical suburban family. After all, isn’t the water from your sink safe? Isn’t the restaurant where I pay $50 per meal giving me safe water to drink?

Guess again!

I wrote an article about three hundred pollutants in your water according to official testing.

The Environmental Working Group reviewed more than 20 million records and found disinfection byproducts, nitrate, arsenic, fluoride and even a fuel additive.

This is all in addition to chlorine, heavy metals and pesticides.

Most restaurants use the same tap water that comes to your house. Sometimes it’s worse because they get it right from their dirty sinks and also through the soda machine. You know, the little tab labeled “water” which has 14 other flavors mixed in.

Really gross when you think about it, right?

The “why you” part is because it affects everyone and these contaminants will affect your health. Why now? Despite the candid reporting from the Environmental Working Group, nothing has been done to ensure your city is providing pure water.

Some cities are voting out fluoride and that’s really great, but many people are still gulping pesticides and mercury.

Portable Water Purifier – When and How?

You can use a portable water filter any day at any time. In my personal experience I’ve used one overseas, at work, restaurants, theme parks and the zoo.

Those are just a few examples but I believe you are starting to get the point. Many of these places provide free water so all you need to do is pour the water in your special bottle and you’re good to go.

Don’t worry about what other people will think when you do this. In reality, nobody cares you have a water filter bottle and they are probably curious and wishing they had one too.

When asked, I usually just say it’s a special water filter bottle and smile. I only bring up information about contaminated water if they ask.

You can fit a water bottle in your bag, backpack and even just carry it with you.

The whole purpose of a portable water purifier is to drink pure and healthy water and you would need one for just about any situation.

The 55 Gallon Water Barrel is one of the most popular water storage barrels available today, as lots and lots of people are buying it. If you’re looking for a quality and BPA free water barrel, then this could be the perfect solution.

I’ve personally researched this and there really aren’t that many quality ones out there. Something I keep hearing from people is that there are several reasons as to why they want to buy one. Some people buy them for normal preparation such as for earthquakes, hurricanes and any other disaster.

You can go a few days without food but it’s vitally important to have water on hand. I would personally much rather have water stored and ready to go through my Berkey water filter than have to leave my house and stand in a mile long line for handouts.

This emergency water storage drum is a best seller, but there are a few things you should know about it before you buy, so let’s find out why.

Read the rest of the “55 Gallon Water Barrel” review:

Table of Contents (click ahead!)
Barrel Type      Barrel Sizes       Features     Barrel Design     Customer Reviews     Pros & Cons

55 Gallon Water Barrel Type

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The 55 Gallon Water Barrel is specifically designed for use indoors or outdoors. It would actually be best to store it in the garage once you’ve filled it up.

Having a water storage drum is the easiest way by far to have long-term security in case of an emergency.

This storage drum will provide enough water for drinking, cooking, and light personal sanitation for a family of four under normal minimum emergency recommendations.

55 Gallon Water Barrel Sizes

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There is only one size available for this drum and it’s typically the same size no matter what brand or company you buy from.

The dimensions are 34 3/4″ x 22 3/4″. You can easily fit this in the corner of your garage or even in a nice sized laundry or utility room inside the house.

When the barrel is filled, it will weigh approximately 470 pounds.

55 Gallon Water Barrel Features

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There are a number of features for this drum that make it unique and special. Besides the different sizes, this barrel has the following:

• This combo includes the barrel, a bung & gas wrench, and an emergency siphon.
• Long-term permanent home water storage solution
• Made from heavy-duty, thick, high molecular weight polyethylene FDA approved resin and BPA free
• Has a dark blue color that restricts light and helps control growth of harmful algae and bacteria
• The emergency siphon gives you an easy, efficient way to remove water from your storage barrel in the event of an emergency.
• The Gas and Bung wrench fits perfectly with this barrel, and it also works as a gas shutoff wrench when you need one.

55 Gallon Water Barrel Design

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This 55 Gallon Water Barrel is a really good looking drum but what else would you expect? It’s got a dark blue color and it has black writing on the front of it.

The emergency siphon is clear and the bung and gas wrench are red.

I’ve seen dark green and brown rain barrels but most of the emergency water storage containers are blue. It’s easy to identify as water and not some other liquid.

It will really do you no good to have a cool or flashy design because this will be stored indoors most of the time.

I’ve never seen one of these in any store so the closest look you’ll have is with my pictures and the video above.

55 Gallon Water Barrel Customer Reviews

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“I’m shocked that no one else has reviewed this product. It’s simple, straightforward. I rinsed the tank out filled it with water…(read more here: 55 Gallon Water Barrel Review)

“I am no expert on water barrel quality, but this one is obviously sturdy and well made. The wrench is a bit on cheap side but given the fact that I only expect to use it a few times…(read more here: 55 Gallon Water Barrel Review)

Amazon Rating: 4.25

Pros & Cons

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Pros:
There are quite a few pros for this water storage barrel but the biggest one I’ve heard people say is that it really gives them a peace of mind knowing they and their family are prepared for any disaster concerning water availability.

I also heard people say it was very simple and easy to use and store.

The final pro I found is that it’s very durable and of high quality so you can have confidence it will last a long time.
Cons:
The main con I found was that this product seems a bit pricey. I have to agree somewhat because it seems to be just a big hunk of plastic.

I have looked around and researched and most of these storage units for water are in this same price range.

Check current pricing discounts:

Features Overview:

I’ve recently been talking to someone about the Sport Berkey because his oldest son and some friends are traveling abroad and he wants to make sure they are drinking clean water.

So many times people from North America travel places and end up getting sick because the water they consume is filled with bacteria and other contaminants.

I remember when I traveled outside of the country once and I got sick the very first day because of water I drank. Guess what? It was my honeymoon! Not the best time to drink contaminated water.

I battled through and made it home but I learned my lesson.

What Does The Sport Berkey Do?

The Berkey Sport bottle is around 11 inches high and is very lightweight. It uses an ionic adsorption micro filtration system.

The black filter sits in the bottle and whenever you pour water in it the water travels through the filter, up through the straw and you have clean water.

Here is what it eliminates or reduces up to 99%.

• Unpleasant taste and odors, cloudiness, silt, sediment and chlorine.
• Toxic chemicals: Trihalomethanes, VOCs, detergents, pesticides, etc.
• Harmful microscopic pathogens: Cryptosporidium, Giardia, E-coli >99.99999% and other pathogenic bacteria.
• Heavy metals: Aluminum, Cadmium, Chromium, Copper, Lead, and Mercury.
• Radiologicals: Radon 222

When you get the Sport Berkey portable water purifier here’s what you should do.

Fill the Berkey Sport with water, screw on the cap and tighten. Flush water through filter by pulling down the lever, so that the straw is exposed, and squeeze water through the filter and out the straw.

Repeat this flushing process twice before drinking. This removes excess process dust from the filter. After two flushes, rinse the bottle and cap. You are good to go after that!

The Sport Berkey And My Experiences

As I mentioned earlier, I learned my lesson about drinking contaminated water and so on my next trip overseas I brought a Berkey Sport bottle and I didn’t get sick.

I filled the bottle with the foreign country’s water and drank it all day long whether it was from the dining areas or from the tap in my room.

I have also brought it with me all around the United States. Whether vacations or business trips, these bottles are very easy to carry around.

Some people are a little worried about what people will think if you’re at dinner and suddenly pull out this blue water bottle to filter their water.

You can’t worry about that because many people don’t understand what’s actually in the tap water that is possibly harmful.

It’s not just tap water, though. You can use this bottle for other questionable sources of water, including remote lakes, streams and stagnant ponds.

The Sport Berkey is very useful, very healthy and very affordable so keep all this information in mind the next time you leave the country for a trip.

Believe it or not, I’ve never written a Berkey water filter review. I was looking at all my posts the other day and I had one of those “huh?” moments.

Sometimes I assume most people already know the ins and outs of this water purifying system. Many people might but they have never really heard about my experiences with it.

I owe it to everyone to fully disclose the truth about my experiences with Berkey.

Bekrey Water Filter Review – The Actual Systems

I bought my first system in 2006 and it was the Travel Berkey stainless steel one. It’s the smallest of the bunch at the time and it was just my wife and I.

After learning for over a year about all the contaminants in the tap water, we were eager to receive help. We learned a lot about heavy metals as well as fluoride in the water. Therefore, I bought the PF2 fluoride and arsenic filters to go along with it.

When it arrived at our apartment I was super excited! We followed all the instructions with priming the filters and then filling it up a few times to filter completely before drinking.

Then came the first taste. Wow! We were blown away! The water was so spectacular. We’ve never drank anything so tasty in our lives. We marveled for weeks and months.

We had people come over and they loved the taste too. Of course there were individuals who scoffed at us and told us tap water was just as good and healthy.

We even had one person tell it might be unhealthy to filter out fluoride. Despite evidence that ingesting fluoride really doesn’t benefit your teeth, this person didn’t want to believe it.

We enjoyed this Berkey system for a good while until…we started having kids. We had two kids and we also desired to use as much of the purified water for cooking as possible.

We had to upgrade and I decided to purchase the Berkey Light. Although not a stainless steel system, the Berkey Light was big enough for our needs and we love the look of it.

It has a storage capacity of about 2.75 gallons and when in use it stands 26.5 in height with a diameter of 9. This was perfect for us and our countertop.

We’ve had this system for several years and we use it every day.

Overall, we’ve loved our Berkey purifiers and really feel as though our health is better because daily we are drinking truly pure water.

I love the Berkey Light, but if our family grows more then we might check out the Royal Berkey stainless steel system.

Berkey Water Filter Review – A Few Things To Maintain

Nothing in this world is perfect and sometimes things need maintenance, such as our cars. Our vehicles need an oil change every now and then and sometimes the Berkey needs a little work.

For instance, ever so often it’s really good to clean the system inside and out with warm water and mild soap. Here’s the biggie. Make sure you scrub the black Berkey filter every now and then.

After a lot of use the flow rate decreases and that’s not a big problem. All you have to do is what they recommend, which is to take them out of the system and lightly scrub them with one of those green scotch pads.

Rinse them under the water and put it all back together. That’s it!

There you have it! This has been my honest and candid Berkey water filter review which I stand by and hope you gained some new insight into these systems.

E. coli water treatment is quite easy if you have the right tools. First, let’s explore a little more on what E. coli water treatment is.

Escherichia coli is commonly found in the lower intestine. Most E. coli strains are harmless, but some forms of it can cause serious food poisoning in humans.

We’ve all heard of people getting E. coli poisoning from eating at fast food restaurants or from tainted lettuce from places like California.

E. Coli Water Treatment – Why?

The reason we want to eliminate this bacteria from our water is simple. We don’t want to get sick. Is it really in our water supply? Yes.

Let’s face it, our water treatment facilities don’t catch everything and that’s why we need to be prepared. I just read an article today talking about how there is a strong correlation between the levels of caffeine in water and the level of bacteria, (especially E. coli).

In fact, I saw two more articles recently talking about E. coli water contamination. One town in America even had to send out a letter and said, “Our water system recently violated a drinking water standard.”

Their tests found possible E. coli contamination in their treated water.

All you have to do is search on the Internet and you will see daily reports about this harmful bacteria in the water.

E. Coli Water Treatment Is Easy With The Black Berkey Filters

Many of you already know how powerful the Black Berkey elements are when used in your water filter system. They remove so many contaminants it’s crazy.

Did you know they also remove E. coli to below detectable levels? What a relief! The last thing I want to worry about is if I’m gulping this bacteria every time I take a drink.

These filters have been properly tested and certified so I have complete faith I’m drinking bacteria-free water.

They also remove other bacteria, cysts, and parasites such as Klebsiella, Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, Giardia and Cryptosporidium.

It’s time more of us become a little more self sufficient and the reason why is because we can’t afford not to.

Yes, we faithfully give tax dollars to the water treatment places that do eliminate certain contaminants, but more often than not it still comes back with harmful ingredients.

I encourage you today to check out one of the Berkey water filter systems because they can save you from enduring sickness brought on by bacteria.

E. coli water treatment is something you can do at home for yourself, so get started today taking your health into your own hands.

Image: Master isolated images / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I’m here to tell you that it is 100 percent true there are water filters that remove fluoride. The Berkey PF2 fluoride filters have been tested and approved to reduce it up to 99.75%.

What’s the big deal about fluoride, you might be asking. Fluoride greatly reduces the development of a child’s brain which lowers their IQ, a basic measure of intelligence.

Fluoride collects in bones and the thyroid gland where it acts as a thyroid poison thus potentially causing bone cancer, hypothyroidism and thyroid cancer.

Fluoride can diminish bone strength and increase the risk for bone fracture. Did you know tooth decay is high in low-income communities that have been fluoridated for years? It’s true.

Water Filters That Remove Fluoride – I Use The Best One

Recently, a person commented on this site saying, “I have researched how to remove fluoride from water and have been told by experts that only reverse osmosis water filters will remove fluoride.”

There is a fine line between the words remove and reduce. There are many water filters that remove fluoride but maybe not completely.

For instance, the Berkey PF2 fluoride and arsenic filters reduce fluoride by 99.75 percent based on official testing. I don’t want to bore you with technical data but…

“Testing for fluoride was based on 20-30ppm of the ion in the influent aqueous solution at a flow rate of no
more than 3 gpm per cubic foot of media.”

Now, I have also heard that reverse osmosis does a good job of removing fluoride but I’ve never been attracted to the negatives, such as a lack of healthy minerals and the concept of using twice the amount of water to drink one half of it.

Water Filters That Remove Fluoride – Berkey Is The Best

It may appear that I’m biased and I guess I am. I’ve bought and used many water filters in my day and none of them compare to the Berkey.

When I found them in the mid-2000s I immediately got a sense they very much resonated with health conscience individuals. People were getting sick and tired of the bacteria, pesticides, heavy metals and fluoride in their drinking water.

Tap water was making people sick and there really was no other solution. There is a reason why missionaries and the Red Cross use Berkey’s and not reverse osmosis.

Reliability, quality and cost. These are the reasons why I have used them since 2006.

Let’s put all rumors aside because it is 100 percent true that there are water filters that remove fluoride.

When I was a kid growing up, there weren’t any real dangers from sports drinks. Today there are numerous sports drinks like Gatorade and Powerade and you should really think twice before drinking them.

There are many multi-million dollar advertisements on TV using sports heroes of the day to sell you these drinks. The messages of these ads are like most products these days.

If you use this product you will become just like the star who is making money off of the advertisement.

Dangers of Sports Drinks – False Claims

I think we already know most TV commercials don’t live up to what they portray. Do you really think drinking Gatorade is going to allow you to slam dunk like Michael Jordan? No!

Do you really think you’ll hit a baseball further, tackle harder, jump higher or race a car faster all because of a special sports drink?

What these companies are doing is saying that the liquid in their product will help you rehydrate your body after exertion. These beverages are marketed towards the every day active person.

The weird thing is that if you look at the ingredients you’ll see they are very similar to soft drinks. For instance, Gatorade has sucrose syrup, glucose-fructose syrup, citric acid, natural and artificial flavors.

Powerade contains high fructose corn syrup, maltodextrin, citric acid, salt, potassium citrate, modified food starch, potassium phosphate and natural flavors.

Dangers of Sports Drinks – The Problems

Dental experts have said that sports drinks cause erosive effects on the teeth, even causing holes to appear. This is caused by the citric acid and even brushing your teeth would be harmful because the tooth enamel is softened in the process.

These sports drinks also contain a ton of sugar, salt and high fructose corn syrup, which are all related to obesity.

Even the sugar free sports drinks are dangerous because they contain artificial sweeteners which are even worse for you than sugar and HFCS.

Some people are correct and accurate when they say coconut water is the best source to rehydrate yourself. I’m an everyday guy, though, and know that most people won’t have this stocked in their kitchen.

The best way I know how to re-energize the body after exercise, sports or any strenuous activity is to drink pure, clean water and even have a banana which is high in potassium. This is what high school football players should be consuming during their half time.

There are dangers of sports drinks you should be aware of and purified water is the solution.

Drinking contaminated water is commonplace all over the world. It doesn’t matter if you’re in a third world country or a big first world country.

Many people get sick immediately and others get sick over time. The end result is the same. Unfortunately I have to report that some people die because of water contamination.

Some people damage their organs and over time the function of those organs is less than optimal.

Clean water is something we all need no matter race or geographical area. It makes me quite sad to see people struggling to find purified water.

Drinking Contaminated Water – Examples

You can literally pull up article after article every single day with examples in all countries about contaminated water.

I’ll give you a few examples from today. Some are outrageous!

• “A Japanese MP drunk water collected from a radioactive puddle inside the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant”
• “Water wells in the country are contaminated with bacteria”
• “Contaminated water advisory issued in Fort Lauderdale”
• “Whistleblower fired after claims of contaminated water”

I could go on and on but the point I’m trying to make is … we’re finding contaminated water every day somewhere in the world and most likely within 100 miles of where you’re living.

You may think you’re safe because you drink treated city water, but I’m afraid that water is contaminated too.

I wrote an article last year that talked about the Environmental Working Group reviewing 20 million records of water utility companies in the U.S. and 316 pollutants were found in the tap water you drink.

Many contaminants found in your treated drinking water are disinfection byproducts, nitrate and arsenic. It was said that half of the contaminants in the water are not subject to health or safety regulations.

Drinking Contaminated Water Isn’t Necessary

We don’t have to despair too much, though, because a quality gravity water filter can purify your water and making it the safest water possible to drink.

I personally use one that filters out bacteria, pesticides, herbicides, VOCs, nitrates, nitrites and even arsenic. These are contaminants that can really harm your health.

As I stated earlier, most of those I just listed above aren’t eliminated from city treated water. My friends, whether we want to or not, we must become a little more self reliant to even be semi-healthy.

We shouldn’t have to resort to drinking contaminated water because we can make the choice today to get a countertop water filter and not have to worry.