Independent laboratory testing results of popular gravity water filters: Just because a countertop water filter is popular doesn't mean it's good at removing heavy metals. Water filters that remove pesticides and herbicides (complex organic molecules) may be terrible at removing heavy metals or radioactive elements. Based on the units we tested, we can only recommend two water filters out of this group: The WaterMan Mini and the ZeroWater filter. Both offered impressive performance at removing heavy metals and elements with radioactive isotopes. Note that we did NOT test these water filters for the removal of pesticides, BPA or other chemical compounds. These test results were limited exclusively to heavy metals and selected elements. The Natural News Forensic Food Lab is in the process of ISO 17025 certification and follows strict quality control standards for all laboratory testing. Water samples from these tests have been retained and archived for verification purposes. All external standards used in these tests are NIST-traceable standards. ICP-MS runs were conducted with calibration checks, instrument tuning calibration verification and other quality control processes customarily used in commercial laboratories. Big Berkey Big Berkey achieved near-total removal of all toxic elements when used with the attached arsenic / fluoride filters (which attach underneath the black ceramic filters). Product assembly was straightforward and simple, and all the parts in the unit worked reliably. Reduction of elements: Aluminum: 86.6% Copper: 100.0% Arsenic: 100.0% Strontium: 100.0% Cadmium: 100.0% Cesium: 98.6% Mercury: 99.8% Lead: 100.0% Uranium: 100.0% Conclusion: Reliable removal of the toxic elements lead, cadmium, arsenic and even uranium, Big Berkey was the best. Zen Water Systems Alkaline Water Filter The Zen Water Systems filter performed extremely well, removing 99% or better of most toxic elements. The Zen Water System uses a 5-stage see-through filter element that also alkalizes the water by adding trace minerals after filtration. The unit was easy to assemble and worked reliably. I found just two drawbacks to the unit: 1) The see-through construction
allows light to provide photosynthesis energy to algae, so if water is left in the unit for a long period of time, algae may begin to grow. (It's not harmful, but might be unsightly.) 2) The unit is made primarily of resins, not stainless steel, so the long-term durability of the unit is likely not be as good as a stainless steel unit. On the positive side, however, the Zen Water Systems filter looks more visually appealing and less like a piece of survival hardware, making it a potentially better choice for offices, kitchens or healing practices. Reduction of elements: Aluminum: 89.6% Copper: 99.9% Arsenic: 99.5% Strontium: 90.9% Cadmium: 99.1% Cesium: 94.2% Mercury: 99.4% Lead: 99.9% Uranium: 99.8% Conclusion: When it comes to reliable removal of toxic elements such as lead, cadmium, arsenic and even uranium, the Zen Water Systems filter is one of the best performers available today. Its unique styling and see-through filter elements makes it more appealing in environments where "survival hardware" may not be the best choice. ProPur Water Filter with All-in-One Filter Elements The ProPur Water Filter I tested showed several problems. From the start, the assembly could not be completed because the attachment screw in the lid knob was too short to attach the knob to the lid. The first flush of the ProPur system using the standard filters produced a heightened lead level of 5405 ppb in the flush water. This was very surprising and was not observed in any other water filter. I proceeded to flush the ProPur unit a total of five times, monitoring the lead levels in the resulting water for each flush. Lead steadily reduced to 140 ppb by the 5th flush, indicating the importance of exhaustively flushing the filters many times before using them. The test results of the ProPur with its original filters was quite poor, indicating relatively little ability for its standard filters to remove toxic elements. In addition, the standard filters also released Aluminum into the water, nearly doubling the Aluminum concentration in the filtered water. The ProPur unit also introduced additional lead into the water, possibly from the metal alloy used in the spigot that dispenses the water. Reduction of elements (standard filters): Aluminum: -91.8% (meaning Aluminum was increased rather than reduced) Copper: 18.8% Arsenic: 21.4% Strontium: -33.9% Cadmium: 13.7% Cesium: 17.6% Mercury: 99.8% Lead: -26.5% (meaning Lead was increased rather than decreased)
Uranium: 21.5% All-In-One-Filters Tested Separately As the water filter testing was taking place for this report, the ProPur company introduced new "All-in-One" filters which were advertised as adding a fluoride reduction capability. I purchased a set of the tall "All-in-One" filters from Amazon.com and tested the performance of those filters independently from the previous standard filters. This was necessary in order to compare more realistically with the Big Berkey filter which was tested with attached arsenic / fluoride filters. The test results of the ProPur All-in-One filtration elements showed a significant improvement in filtration results over the ProPur standard filters. However, even the new All-in-One filters did not perform as well as Big Berkey or Zen Water Systems in our tests: Reduction of elements (All-in-One filters): Aluminum: 61.3% Copper: 92.4% Arsenic: 61.6% Strontium: 6.1% Cadmium: 75.3% Cesium: 20.2% Mercury: 99.1% Lead: 96.1% Uranium: 91.5% The new All-in-One filters seem to have solved the problems of both lead and aluminum being emitted into the filtered water by the previous standard filters. In addition, the new filters exhibited improved performance at removing arsenic by 61.6% and lead by 96.1%. Conclusion: When it comes to reliable removal of toxic elements such as lead, cadmium, arsenic and even uranium, the ProPur Water Filter can only be recommended when used with the newer "All-in-One" filters. Performance of the older standard filters, sold for many years including 2014, was surprisingly poor. Even the newer filters did not perform nearly as well as Big Berkey in our testing. Crystal Drop Water Filter The Crystal Drop water filter performed quite poorly compared to the other water filters in this testing. Its ability to remove toxic elements from water was shown to be significantly low enough that the unit should not be considered a reliable tool for the removal of toxic elements from water. Reduction of elements: Aluminum: -1165.5% (large increase in Aluminum) Copper: 41.2% Arsenic: 22.7% Strontium: -51.8% Cadmium: 29.2% Cesium: 21.7%
Mercury: 85.3% Lead: 62.3% Uranium: 41.1% Conclusion: When it comes to reliable removal of toxic elements such as lead, cadmium, arsenic and even uranium, the Crystal Drop water filter should be avoided. Doulton Water Filter The Doulton water filter performed the poorest of the filters we tested, removing surprisingly little of the toxic elements tested. Although the unit might be perfectly capable of removing bacteria, parasites and amoeba from water, it has proven itself quite incapable of removing toxic elements and heavy metals. Reduction of elements: Aluminum: -248.0% (increase in Aluminum) Copper: 21.3% Arsenic: 19.3% Strontium: 4.2% Cadmium: 8.2% Cesium: 11.9% Mercury: 95.0% Lead: 20.9% Uranium: 35.0% Conclusion: When it comes to reliable removal of toxic elements such as lead, cadmium, arsenic and even uranium, the Doulton water filter should be considered largely ineffective. Pur water filter The Pur water filter we tested performed poorly, removing relatively small amounts of most heavy metals and elements while actually increasing the concentration of aluminum in the filtered water. Based on these results, we would not recommend Pur water filters for use in the removal of heavy metals or radioactive isotopes. Reduction of elements: Aluminum reduction: INCREASE of 46.8% Copper reduction: 27.6% Arsenic reduction: 19.8% Strontium reduction: 15.4% Cadmium reduction: 17.4% Cesium reduction: 27.8% Mercury reduction: 98.9% Lead reduction: 34.9% Uranium reduction: 31.5%
Brita water filter The Brita water filter we tested was the worst performing water filter of all those we tested. This was surprising, given the high popularity of the Brita water filter at retail. Shockingly, the Brita only removed 14% of lead and about 12% of arsenic. At the same time, it actually increased the amount of aluminum in the water by almost 34%. Based on these results, we would not recommend Brita water filters for use in the removal of heavy metals or radioactive isotopes. Reduction of elements: Aluminum reduction: INCREASE of 33.9% Copper reduction: 8.6% Arsenic reduction: 12.1% Strontium reduction: 3.6% Cadmium reduction: 6.6% Cesium reduction: 9.5% Mercury reduction: 74.6% Lead reduction: 14.1% Uranium reduction: 10.0% Seychelle water filter The Seychelle water filter we tested performed better than most. Lead removal at 72% was respectable, and the filter removed more cesium (38.7%) than nearly all the filters tested. Seychelle also did an outstanding job removing arsenic. For this reason, we would recommend Seychelle as a reliable filter for the removal of heavy metals and radioactive isotopes. Reduction of elements: Aluminum reduction: INCREASE of 27.9% Copper reduction: 39.9% Arsenic reduction: 78.4% Strontium reduction: 30.2% Cadmium reduction: 27.8% Cesium reduction: 38.7% Mercury reduction: 99.6% Lead reduction: 72.0% Uranium reduction: 43.2% Culligan water filter The Culligan water filter we tested performed poorly, near the bottom of the performance list. (Only Brita was worse.) Culligan only removed about 16% of arsenic, 30% of lead and 30% of cesium. We would not recommend Culligan as a water filter for the removal of heavy metals and radioactive isotopes. Reduction of elements: Aluminum reduction: INCREASE of 52.4%
Copper reduction: 30.8% Arsenic reduction: 16.0% Strontium reduction: 27.8% Cadmium reduction: 22.6% Cesium reduction: 30.4% Mercury reduction: 62.4% Lead reduction: 30.2% Uranium reduction: 28.6% Mavea water filter The Mavea water filter we tested performed relatively poorly, but unlike many other filters, it did not release additional aluminum into the water. So we would rate it as superior to Pur, Brita and Culligan. The overall ability of the Mavea water filter to removal elements was relatively poor, however. Based on the laboratory results, we would not recommend Mavea as a water filter for the removal of heavy metals and radioactive isotopes. Reduction of elements: Aluminum reduction: 8.1% Copper reduction: 18.8% Arsenic reduction: 18.6% Strontium reduction: 2.4% Cadmium reduction: 9.2% Cesium reduction: 15.3% Mercury reduction: 85.0% Lead reduction: 23.4% Uranium reduction: 22.7% WaterMan Mini water filter Despite its small size, the WaterMan Mini water filter performed extremely well, easily outperforming nearly every other water filter we tested. Notably, it removed 62.4% of aluminum, a feat which almost no other filter could match. It also did a terrific job removing lead (93.7%), arsenic (54.0%) and even uranium (72.4%). The increase of strontium in the filtered water (+179%) is actually not a concern. This was a non-radioactive strontium which is typically used as an effective ion exchange medium in filtration technologies. Stronium in its stable isotope is actually a positive mineral for bone health. For this reason, we highly recommend the WaterMan Mini water filter for the removal of heavy metals and radioactive isotopes. Reduction of elements: Aluminum reduction: 62.4% Copper reduction: 89.2% Arsenic reduction: 54.0% Strontium reduction: INCREASE of 179% Cadmium reduction: 49.1% Cesium reduction: 25.7% Mercury reduction: 99.7% Lead reduction: 93.7%
Uranium reduction: 72.4% ZeroWater water filter The ZeroWater water filter out-performed all other water filters we tested, easily earning the top spot in terms of performance. Astonishingly, ZeroWater removed 100% of several elements (Aluminum, Strontium and Cesium) while removing over 99% of everything else, including lead and arsenic. This performance is virtually unheard of in water filtration technologies, regardless of the manufacturer. The only drawback of ZeroWater filters is that they can quickly be "used up" if you try to filter high mineral content water through them such as well water. Because the ZeroWater ion exchange element binds with virtually ALL elements, its life will be reduced if you run high TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) water through it on a regular basis. Nevertheless, because of its impressive performance, ZeroWater earns our choice as the single best countertop water filter to own for emergency use. It very effectively removes toxic heavy metals as well as elements with radioactive isotopes. ZeroWater performs so well that we wish we offered it for sale, but we don't because it's already available everywhere at retail. Reduction of elements: Aluminum reduction: 100% Copper reduction: 99.1% Arsenic reduction: 99.3% Strontium reduction: 100% Cadmium reduction: 99.2% Cesium reduction: 100% Mercury reduction: 99.4% Lead reduction: 99.2% Uranium reduction: 99.1% Testing Methodology: All tests conducted by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, via ICP-MS instrumentation with parts per billion sensitivity using methodologies based on EPA 200.8, using nitric acid digestion, sample normalization, 4-point external standards calibration and in-run calibration checks. The Natural News Forensic Food Lab is pending ISO 17025 certification. Information provided courtesy of Natural News