We have absolutely nasty water where I live. We have a well, and although the water tastes "okay" and doesn't have an odor, you should see it! It's extremely cloudy in a glass, and when it rains a lot it turns brownish with soil and you can smell soil in it. We have a water softener and we use the best rust remover salt we can find, set our softener on a high setting, and STILL there's a lot of rust.

As a result, we started drinking bottled water not long after moving in almost 8 years ago. We are BIG water drinkers and we go through at least 48 bottles/week (2 cases). We buy the cheapest water, but I've realized through some budgeting revelation (wherever that came from)that we are spending around $50+/month on water.

Of course, when we bought our softener 7 years ago, tehy tried to sell us a water filtration system for under the sink that we turned down. How dumb was that, but we didn't know at the time. We had just spent a few thousand on the softener, so the water was the least of our concerns. It was around $1000 back then and would have more than paid for itself by now, but that's not something we're going to do at this point. We're doing some work on our house (in order to sell) that's already costing us in the thousands, so something like that is out.

What other water filtration type things do you recommend? Do they really help? I've seen the ones on the sink faucet and also the Brita pitchers. What are those about and do you recommend them? TIA for any info or suggestions.

By Pamt on Thursday, October 12, 2006 - 11:09 pm:

We used a Brita pitcher for years, but now have the Pur on-the-faucet kind. We drink a lot of water too and it lasts a couple of months. I wish we had one to filter the icemaker water because our water is yummy, but the ice isn't as good.

By Trina~moderator on Friday, October 13, 2006 - 06:21 am:

We also have a well, and had a filter system hooked up a couple years ago. We had our water tested and the amount of something (the name of which escapes my foggy morning brain at the moment - iron??) was 4x the recommended amount. The filter has made a huge difference in the taste but an added benefit was much less buildup in the toilet bowls. This filter system is in the basement and flushes itself out every three days in the middle of the night while we're sleeping.

By Vicki on Friday, October 13, 2006 - 06:57 am:

We also have a water softener with the under the sink additional system that we got at the same time as the softener. Have you checked in to the cost of the bottled water with the cooling systems? I know that you can buy them now instead of renting them, we got one at Sams Club for our camper. I think it was a little over 100.00 for the system and then you get the 5 gallon bottles from water places. (we just fill ours at home and take it)

By Karen~admin on Friday, October 13, 2006 - 07:26 am:

We have a filter on our freezer for the ice and water, and honestly, it doesn't do quite the job I thought it would so we are *still* buying several cases of water each week.

By Dawnk777 on Friday, October 13, 2006 - 07:58 am:

We don't use any filtration. I don't mind the tap water, but we still buy bottled water sometimes, anyway.

By Claire on Friday, October 13, 2006 - 08:27 am:

"We had just spent a few thousand on the softener, so the water was the least of our concerns. It was around $1000 back then"

I would look into this again. They sell these at Home Depot and they are no where near 1000.00. We have one and installed it ourselves.

By Cat on Friday, October 13, 2006 - 08:31 am:

Our refridgerator has a filter in it, but our water isn't that bad out of the tap. We do use some bottled water for going out and such. We get it at Sam's. It's a little under $6 for a case of 24oz bottles. I agree with checking around. I can't believe it would cost that much. Good luck.

By Kate on Friday, October 13, 2006 - 08:36 am:

Can't you buy gallon jugs of water? Or buy gallon jugs of distilled water which is even cheaper? I find the taste of them all to be the same. We have to buy gallon jugs of water for our fish as they can't have tap water, and it's 79 cents a jug. I don't know how quickly you would go through that, but it has to be less than 'cases' of small bottled waters.

By Dana on Friday, October 13, 2006 - 09:33 am:

We have used in the past a simple filter system that you connect directly to your spigot at your sink. They are not outrageously priced. Then you purchase the filters (they look like cylinders) of the type you want. The better the quality of water coming out, the more expensive. But either way, the filters last for a few months before needing to be replace. But we don't have well water coming out w/ sediments like you do. But they do work very very well even with dirty water. They will just need changing more often.

Our river place used well water and we don't do any cooking or cleaning with it. We won't wash our hair either. I don't care for the feel on my skin or the smell of iron on me after a bath, but after a couple days esp if we did a bon fire, a bath is much needed even with rust. We use the 5 gallon jugs up there. I just fill some of the small bottles and put names on them for the family. Guest can have their own new individual bottle, but then they refill from the big jug.

If well water and dirty water is common to your area and all the other homes you are competing with look the same, I wouldn't spend the money. However, if you MUST sell and timing matters and most homes already have this feature, I would say is it a "must do" item to make your house sell. The home market is really loaded with homes that have been on the market for several months now, and thousands more are yet to come. People are doing all sorts of stuff to make their house better than the 5 down the block.

By Ginny~moderator on Friday, October 13, 2006 - 03:15 pm:

My son insists on bottled water because in their (McMansion) development, the water has a higher than "allowed" radioactivity level. They have a dispenser for hot or cold water, using the big (5 gallon? 10 gallon?) bottles.

By Reds9298 on Friday, October 13, 2006 - 09:24 pm:

Thank you everyone for all of the great ideas! I don't care for the taste of distilled water, but I haven't even looked at gallon jugs of spring water. I also wasn't aware that the under-sink filtration systems were as cheap as you all have mentioned. We are definitely going to look into all of your suggestions.

As far as selling our house, no one would know about the water until they've lived here for a bit. When our house inspected, there was nothing in the report that stated anything negative about the water. You just realize it after living here for several months! (or after a long rain, like 3 days or so) We live in the middle of nowhere, so that is just one minor downside to potential buyers. You have to WANT to live in the middle of nowhere!

I was really just thinking about it as I re-evaluate our budget and look for more spending $ . Thanks - all the suggestions are really helpful!

By Amecmom on Friday, October 13, 2006 - 09:45 pm:

We've got a "whole house filter", which is a little filter that is attached to your incoming main, a water softener and a Culligan reverse-osmosis water filtration system. Do you think we like good water? I am very satisfied.
Ame

By Hol on Sunday, October 15, 2006 - 09:05 pm:

We have a 250 foot deep artesian well. Our water is very good tasting and very cold all year round. It DOES have a high concentration of cacium in it which builds up in the toilet bowl, but we don't use any kind of filtration.

I used bottled water in my steam iron and coffee pot because it does get a build up in it.

By Insaneusmcwife on Monday, October 16, 2006 - 06:29 am:

We have the britta water cooler. It does hot and cold water and we love it. The kids make their own cup a soups, oatmeal, hot cocoa, apple cider etc.. I use it a lot for cooking as well so I don't have to wait for the water to boil. The only downside for us is it takes 2 britta filters so its kind of expensive but not nearly as much as we were putting out on the water bottles. I don't know if it will get the cloudyness out of the water or not. Have you considered buying a water cooler or crock and some 3 or 5 gallon water jugs that you can refill at the store or even having the jugs delivered. I think my mom paid $150 for a water crock stand and 2 bottles at the water store.

By Karen~admin on Monday, October 16, 2006 - 07:03 am:

Cat, I get cases of 32 bottles @ Sams for just over $4.00 a case!!

Kate, I drink between 6 and 10 bottles of water a day, depending on the size of the bottle. At work, I start off the morning with a bottled water, then refill it all day long from the 5 gallon dispenser.

We keep bottles of water in the fridge and freezer at home, and at the office, for whenever we go somewhere.

It's so much easier on me to use bottles than buy gallon jugs. However, I am considering the 5 gallon dispenser for home once we are done with all this work on the house.

I won't drink the tap water around here - not even for making coffee - too many chemical plants and refineries in the area and I don't trust the water. It tastes bad too.

By Reds9298 on Monday, October 16, 2006 - 09:12 am:

I agree Karen...it's soooo much easier for us to grab the bottles from the fridge. I love it! It's just expensive for that convenience unfortunately. I drink at least 4/ day, DH drinks 2, and all of Natalie's water (which is her primary drink) comes from bottles as well.

Ame- The reverse osmosis system is what they offered us when we bought our softener. I couldn't remember the name of it. It sounded nice, but like I said, at the time we didn't realize it was a necessity and it just seemed like extra money. I wish we had done it now!!

Water coolers- I have no place to put one that I would like! Good idea though.

Thank you!