Finally, Clean Drinking Water Made Easy

Having lived in various parts of the world, I’m quite accustomed to the hassle of securing safe drinking water. Heck, even when Savvy was a graduate student in Phoenix, Arizona at Thunderbird International School of Management, we took our own 19 liter water bottles to a Water & Ice Store where we would pay a dollar to fill each bottle and then cart them home and carry them up the stairs. In case you are wondering, yes, that was a royal pain in the backside, and that was simply so we could have water that didn’t taste brackish (Phoenix Water Supply motto: It tastes like pond scum, but it’s clean; really). So paying RMB15-25 per 19-litter bottle to have someone else deliver clean water seemed like a bargain to me. And for years, that is what we did in Beijing.

Ironically, over time, I found this system to be less and less convenient. Many times the delivery guy would be later than promised, or not come at all due to one reason or another. It sounds trivial, but I had to remember to order it before running out. And the dispenser itself was not easy to keep clean. On top of all this, I began to suspect the whole system was a bit broken in terms of overall water quality. I never was concerned about the legitimacy of the water we ordered (I know that has been an issue for some in Beijing), but I was increasingly concerned about the ways the bottles were stored (direct sunlight is bad for bottled water in plastic bottles), worried about the lack of minerals in most bottled water, and I was increasingly suspicious about the overall hygiene and safety of plastic water dispensers. Consequently, I started looking for a safer, healthier, and easier solution. 

Fortunately, I got pointed in the right direction early on in my quest by a blog post here on Beijing Kids about Aquasana water filters. Initially I was a bit put off by the price until I did the math and realized that per liter I would not be paying any more than I already did for delivered water and would probably even save money over the lifetime of the filter. And with the addition of two more thirsty mouths in our family (plus an ayi and all the visitors now helping care for our twins), I knew I didn’t want to waste any more time with water bottles. One email exchange and two days later, Charlie Thomson, the distributor for Aquasana in China, arrived at our door with everything he needed to install our new under-the-counter water filter.

It took Charlie about 30 minutes to install the system during which time he clearly established his credentials as an expert on Beijing water quality by patiently answering every last question I fired at him about water in the Capital. He not only understands the quality of the different districts, he knows how good and bad the water is at each apartment compound. By chance, our compound in Wangjing happens to be one of the better ones in Beijing for water quality due to a pre-filter system to eliminate sediment. Still, we asked Charlie to break out his various water monitors and test the quality of our tap water, Aquasana filtered water, and our Wahaha bottled water. Here’s what we found (bear in mind that only a few tests can be easily done outside a laboratory environment).

There are three main takeaways here: we now have good mineral content in our drinking water, we don’t need to worry about chlorine (and a host of other environmental pollutants that cannot be easily tested), and the pH balance of our drinking water is more alkaline than with bottled water. The pH difference was the most noticeable as we could immediately taste the difference in the drinking water and it took a couple of days for us to adjust to it. Also, since we stopped using “dead” water, I do notice mineral buildup on my teacup now and again, but this is a small price to pay for clean, safe drinking water.

If you would like to learn more about Aquasana water filters, visit their website at www.aquasana-china.com.

Photo by Christopher Lay