A decade of drinkability

When I lived in Colorado, I drank water from the tap with abandon. It wasn't until I tried tap water from other places that I realized I had taken the crystal clear and fresh-tasting Rocky Mountain tap water for granted. I clearly remember drinking tap water that tasted like dirt once on vacation and recoiling in horror.

Now that I live in a big city with areas that are notorious for polluted water or old plumbing systems, I stand confidently behind my tap-mounted water filter and my filtered water pitcher. My complaint about the screw-on tap filter is that it seems to clog up after only a couple of weeks of use. I've found ways to work around the slow-flowing filter, but these lengthy solutions often border on the ridiculous (starting to fill up a cup of water and returning to retrieve it after I change clothing). Even though I love the taste of purified water, my filter's short lifespan can get pretty annoying.

How silly I felt when I stumbled across this 10 Year Water Filter by Hammacher Schlemmer. A single filter filters up to 25,000 gallons of tap water, roughly the amount that's consumed by a family of four over the period of a decade. More importantly, it accomplishes this without the need for replacing any cartridges. Connecting directly to the faucet spout, the filter provides a stream that doesn't slow down to a trickle over time, and it's operated using a simple diverter valve that can be turned off when you want to use the faucet. The filter clears the water of 97.3 percent of chlorine, leaving your water tasting clean and smelling nice.

The nicest part about the filter is the price: it only costs $69.95, while I've often paid as much as $40 for a package of two replacement nozzles that each last only a few weeks. If you want to check it out, you can do so at Hammacher Schlemmer's Web site.