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Comment by bubblewrap | Hacker News Reader

Filters seem like a lot of hassle, though. You have to keep them clean and exchange them on a regular basis. I don't really trust that solution.

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Many under-sink filtration systems last at least 10,000 gallons. They take 5 minutes max to replace.

Are you saying that 5 minute task every few years is more work then manually lugging 10,000 gallons of water through say, 10,000 separate containers, carrying each one, opening them manually each time, tipping and pouring them, then discarding them? (that's the weight of about 25 cars)

Not to be rude but I don't believe you.

The problem is not the 5 minutes, it is to remember doing it. Because if you don't remember it, you might get sick from bacteria growing in the filter.

Ask your favorite personal digital assistant to set a reminder and then swap it out using all the time you save not lugging bottled water home from the store.

Actually, I simply use unfiltered tap water. As for the reminder - I think in reality, it often isn't done. A reminder isn't a guarantee for it being done.

As it stands, I have trouble to descale the washing machine every six months.

I know that the simple table based filters (a can with a filter to filter 1 liter of water) are often not exchanged frequently enough.

Why introduce that risk unnecessarily?

> Many under-sink filtration systems last at least 10,000 gallons.

Every filtration system I have owned needs to have the cartridges replaced every six months. What system has multi-year cartridges?

Not multi-year, but my mother has a culligan reverse-osmosis system (their tap water tastes horrible). There are three filters, the first two get replaced yearly, the RO membrane filter lasts 3 years. Tastes indistinguishable from filtered bottled water.

So what's another plastic bottle in the dump right? Someone will figure it out, as long as you don't need to deal with the hassle

In my country, plastic bottles have returnable deposits, so they tend to not end in the dump. There are also glass bottles available.

That said, I think plastic can be OK if it is trashed adequately. I don't think my plastic bottles end up in the oceans.

Even if it gets recycled, it's not free. Raw materials need to be collected, processed, and transfered. The bottle-quality plastic has to be created and transfeed to the bottle making factory. The bottles transfered again potentially, filled with water, wrapped in more plastic, transfered again.... all that before recycling.

Filters are also not free.

Sure we aren't at zero yet. But dropping the ecological footprint by 99% is a good first step.

>I don't really trust that solution.

What other-worldly solution do you think the bottling companies are using?

I think they at least professionally manage the hygiene in their factories. They pay cleaners to clean stuff and exchange filters on a regular schedule.

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