Big Berkey water filter

I don't know exactly how it's happening, but it seems like every month I age past 40 I'm getting more and more of a conscience, especially as it relates to the environment.  I recycle, but when I look at the amount of plastic that I create with my constant bottled water habit....I've been thinking about changing it for a while.  Not only does it create more recycling that needs to be done, they need to be transported to the store and driven home which means quite a bit of an effect on the environment.  I've also been on a bit of a financial diet as well as I get ready to marry my longtime love Jeff, and looking to see how I can stop wasting money on little things so that I can actually use it where it will count.  I drink 5 gallons or water a week (1.39 each) which comes out to  $361.40  This is actually not a very expensive water habit by the way, but I did start to search for other options which is how I came across the Big Berkey water filter Big Berkey  .  Just for comparisons sake, if you are buying a pricier water such as Essentia (Wholefoods sells it for 2.99 per 1.5 liter bottle) and drinking 2 per day for each day of the year, you'll be spending $2,176.72 per year on water.  It's so easy to spend small amounts of money at a time and not actually realize how much it actually costs isn't it?  Not only do I not want to use all of that plastic, I also don't want to waste all that money!  Imagine all the things that I could do with that money....I started researching filters (good news for you because I've saved so much time for you!) and learned some interesting things.  At first I thought I would just buy a Brita and be done with it, but as I read I realized that a Brita wouldn't do enough for me to feel that the water was "clean" enough.  The more into natural, healthy and organic I have gotten, the fewer chemicals I want to be around, and the Brita really didn't remove everything.  It was harder than I thought to find something that would remove Flouride, as well.  Although I initially thought that an under sink water filtration system would be better, I found out that many of them also removed the good minerals like magnesium as well.  Boo hoo!  Win one battle and lose another.When I found the Big Berkey it had some impressive attributes.  It has the ability to filter pond water and make it safe to drink (admittedly I'd be grossed out to do this, but good to know that it could:) removes fluoride and leaves safe, delicious drinking water behind.  It stays on the countertop which is good for me (I live in an apartment)  and the version that I purchased holds 2.5 gallons which means that it won't need to be replaced all the time.  It wasn't inexpensive so it will be something that I need to use for about a year for it to pay for itself, but I think that is definitely worth it.  I'm particularly excited to no longer have to lug all of those heavy water gallons home.  I'd love to hear from you guys about what kind of water filtration you're using.  Comment away:)