water filter recommendation?

[DonaldW]

Mr. Bill.... that link you provided is not working for me for some reason

Speaking of cost ..... I do personally know someone in Texas who throws away his R/O system and buys a new one every couple of years and he said it's because his manufacturer charges him more for a set of replacement filters than he paid for the whole R/O system. A little crazy; just like a modern day cartridge printer LOL. However, I have found membranes online for as low as $30 and a dual set (2 changes) of carbon/sediments for $35. So that's a $65 filter replacement for my R/O system for 2 years of service, or around $33 per year discounting water cost. At $3 per 5 gallon pure water container one purchases in Mexico, one should be able to add up the cost difference. And that's totally ignoring convenience. If you have an ice maker and plan to attach it to your R/O system, I guarantee once you use it for a while you'd pay almost anything to enjoy your pure ice and never fill another tray again. (I guarantee there is nothing like a "flat" taste of water in a cocktail. In fact, I can never recall hearing anyone say that they miss the taste of the ice in their favorite beverage. ;-)

Now the water supply cost has not been factored into this, true; but according to the people at the San Miguell micro brew company I previously referred to, the waste water is about equal to the filtered water. They have holding tanks for both the pure water and the wash-by water. They use the wash-by water to do initial cleans on all their equipment and to mop the floors.

True, there is a certain romantic ritual to ordering water in Mexico, the yelling up and down the hill, the calling for and scheduling it, the social interaction of the young man who brings it up or down the hill and the managing of it all. But so are many aspects of the Mexican way of life. For me personally, after a few years of this ritual of water management, I elected to start thinking of automating the water part of the process and leaving the romance to things I didn't use so much of. I cook a lot and consume a lot of water, plus it's great to never run out, be it a holiday, late at night or when you just don't feel like fooling with it any more. Also not being that great of a cook, I don't want any water flavor getting in the way of the flavor of any of my dishes. I have enough of a challenge as it is.

In closing, there are many arguments for and against a real or imagined taste, examining price discussions, ideology, romance of the purchase ritual or simply falling into a marketing ploy, but in the end it all turns into a matter of choice. Also at odds in the selection process is the fact our culture places a lot more emphasis on these arguments than to actual scientific data, and that's even if you could find true data on your municipal water system or the filter you buy. In reality there may be too many factors which can cause our health to be harmed by the water we drink vs. other elements to even properly debate the issue. As some have pointed out there are many, many Mexican people who have lived to be a ripe old age and had daily doses of water much worse than what's on tap today.

This sort of reminds me of one of my favorite lyrics of a Willie Nelson song, "I Gotta Get Drunk' and that's the line "... there's more old drunks than there are old doctors, so I guess I'd better have another round"