As the November 5th Presidential election approached, I focused on preparing for emergencies—such as protests or infrastructure attacks, regardless the winner (or loser). I stocked up medical supplies and took trauma training for massive bleeding incidents. My wife and I majorly topped off food and water supplies, while I purchased some additional items, particularly for dealing with power outages.
Water bothered me most. What if some crazy person poisoned the water supply, or there was unexpected contamination incident—such as agricultural or industrial runoff or more Mexican spillage. Yikes, cyberattack? The solution that made most sense: Water-filtration system, for purifying the liquid from almost any source.
During a couple weeks of research, I considered three: AlexaPure Pro, Big Berkey, and Purewell Water Filter System—all are around 2.2-gallon capacity. Amazon made the Purewell most affordable of the trio—$178 and some change, with lots of extras, including fluoride filters and stand. Ha! Price is discounted tonight to $167.19. Sale ends in about 40 minutes from posting. The Berkey is the costliest of the three, but the company no longer sells in California—voluntarily to avoid state testing requirements. But third-parties do offer the system, which is $415 from some of them on Amazon.
AlexaPure Pro emerged the frontrunner, from my scouring about reading and watching reviews. The unit is commonly priced $279.95, which is more than I wanted to spend. But further web searches led me to My Patriot Supply, which I hadn’t previously ordered from. The retailer offered the kit for $199.95, discounted for Veteran’s Day.
But backtrack: Family purchase like this one really requires discussion with my wife—something I failed to initiate before the election. But a few days later, Annie watched videos on YouTube warning about health problems related to fluoridated water; oh, was she concerned. I explained about my filtration research and how the systems can remove fluoride from tap water. She liked that, and I made a final decision to buy AlexaPure Pro, in part because fluoride filtration doesn’t require a separate mechanism for that.
I ordered the kit on November 11, it arrived on the 13th, and we set up the thing yesterday afternoon by filling from the tap. Filtration takes a while, but the water tastes good, although a little flat (maybe more minerals kept is better). All in all, we’re satisfied (so far).
Operation is simple. Gravity is the mechanism. Pour water into the upper chamber, and it flows to the lower with more than 200 contaminants removed. The unit comes with a single filter rated for 200-gallons of purification. But the number conforms with the laboratory testing requirements abstained by Berkey. Go back two years, and the company claimed 5,000 gallons. My guess, based on tests conducted by longer-term users: There’s what’s said now based on testing limitations versus what the filters are really capable of. We will assume the higher number.
Unbelievably, in conclusion, need for AlexaPure Pro may be more pressing than expected. Today, Joseph Biden finally relented to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s persistent whining about obtaining permission to fire U.S.-supplied long-range missiles into the heart of Russia—something that the country’s president, Vladimir Putin, says would constitute an act of war with the West. Why would anyone think that poking the nuclear-armed Russian bear is a good idea?
Well, if the bombs fall and we survive, I got dibs on the neighbor’s swimming pool water, which AlexaPure Pro can make safe and drinkable.
Let’s talk Featured Image, taken yesterday using Leica Q2 Monochrom. You see the beautiful stainless-steel system, where it perches next to the spare freezer and stack of seltzer waters in our apartment’s dining room. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/2, ISO 800, 1/30 sec, 28mm; 8:36 p.m. PST.