Water without solids? No more dangerous substances like lead, asbestos and mercury to concern ourselves with, or at least that is the claim from water filter company Zerowater. It has a developed a five-stage filter that removes virtually all dissolved solids, apparently leaving water pure and safe. Included with the kit is a water quality meter (TDS meter) that proves the effectiveness of the filter; tap water has in the region of 250ppm solids, while the Zerowater’s filter will reduce that to zero.

All well and good but two fundamental questions need to be answered. Is it better for you and does it taste better?

Being a solid in water does not make you a bad thing. Mineral water wouldn’t be mineral water without the minerals. The US Food and Drug Administration defines mineral water as having at 250ppm of total dissolved solids. Such minerals often include calcium (which is beneficial for strong bones), magnesium (lower risk of cardiovascular disease), potassium (reduces blood pressure), as well as minerals such as iron, sodium and zinc which are essential for body growth, but can also cause problems if there are too much of them in drinking water. Additionally, fluoride is added to water in many parts of the UK to provide better dental health. Losing all these minerals is therefore not necessarily a good thing.

On the other side of the coin are substances that we don’t want in our drinking water – lead, chromium, mercury, radium and asbestos are variously attributed to causing kidney damage, nervous system problems and cancer. Zerowater claims to be able to remove 99 per cent of these solids, which is obviously a good thing.

It claims to remove approximately twice as much solids as its mainstream competitor using a five (rather than two) stage filter. Stage 1 is a coarse filter screen which filters out fine particles and sediments. Stage 2 is a foam distributor that disperses the water evenly across the filter and thereby improves longevity and effectiveness. Stage 3 is made up of carbon and oxidation alloy. The carbon filters out a lot of different contaminants and the oxidation alloy removes chlorine and heavy metals. Stage 4 is an ion exchange resin that removes dissolved solids, and Stage 5 is an ultrafine screen and membrane used to remove remaining suspended solids.

The extent to which all this works can in theory be measured by using the TDS meter. Readings of 200-300 should come down to zero and if they don’t then the filter should be replaced. This came in very handy for ensuring the tasting experiment was truly independent. Two samples – one tap water and one filtered – were put in the fridge in covered glass containers. Glass because some people argue that plastic can taint flavour, and refrigerated so that samples were tasted like for like. Cool tap water might have an unfair advantage over room temperature filtered water. The samples were then distributed into identical glasses for tasting.

For all that our experiment was conducted with a sample size that was too small to be considered scientific, it was interesting that everyone identified which of the samples were filtered. All samples were confirmed as being filtered or otherwise after tasting by using the TDS meter. Still more interesting was that the majority of tasters preferred the tap water, although all agreed there was little difference. Tap water, it was decided, was a bit sharper, a bit more flavoursome.

As a final experiment, a glass of orange squash was put through the filter. If a filter has 99 per cent efficiency at digging out the dissolved solids then a reading of 274, as my orange juice was, should come down to 2 or 3ppm. And it did. The resulting filtered liquid was almost completely tasteless with just a merest hint of sweetness. It was, however, decidedly and disappointingly orange in colour, more than you might expect from a mere 2ppm.

One further observation is that the jug is about the height of a wine bottle, so if you want to store permanently in your fridge then that is the sort of clearance you need. My fridge isn’t able to accommodate such things so would require filtering water, filling bottles and laying them flat in the fridge, which is doable but just less elegant. The jug itself is nicely styled and it seems a shame not to use it as intended.

I have no recommendations as to whether to buy or not. Perhaps if you live in an area where there is danger of higher lead, mercury, cadmium etc levels then it starts to become more of a consideration, and if you conclude you are after a water filter then the Zerowater filter appears to be an efficient solution.

Water without solids? No more dangerous substances like lead, asbestos and mercury to concern ourselves with, or at least that is the claim from water filter company Zerowater. It has a developed a five-stage filter that removes virtually all dissolved solids, apparently leaving water pure and safe. Included with the kit is a water quality meter (TDS meter) that proves the effectiveness of the filter; tap water has in the region of 250ppm solids, while the Zerowater’s filter will reduce that to zero.

All well and good but two fundamental questions need to be answered. Is it better for you and does it taste better?

Being a solid in water does not make you a bad thing. Mineral water wouldn’t be mineral water without the minerals. The US Food and Drug Administration defines mineral water as having at 250ppm of total dissolved solids. Such minerals often include calcium (which is beneficial for strong bones), magnesium (lower risk of cardiovascular disease), potassium (reduces blood pressure), as well as minerals such as iron, sodium and zinc which are essential for body growth, but can also cause problems if there are too much of them in drinking water. Additionally, fluoride is added to water in many parts of the UK to provide better dental health. Losing all these minerals is therefore not necessarily a good thing.

On the other side of the coin are substances that we don’t want in our drinking water – lead, chromium, mercury, radium and asbestos are variously attributed to causing kidney damage, nervous system problems and cancer. Zerowater claims to be able to remove 99 per cent of these solids, which is obviously a good thing.

It claims to remove approximately twice as much solids as its mainstream competitor using a five (rather than two) stage filter. Stage 1 is a coarse filter screen which filters out fine particles and sediments. Stage 2 is a foam distributor that disperses the water evenly across the filter and thereby improves longevity and effectiveness. Stage 3 is made up of carbon and oxidation alloy. The carbon filters out a lot of different contaminants and the oxidation alloy removes chlorine and heavy metals. Stage 4 is an ion exchange resin that removes dissolved solids, and Stage 5 is an ultrafine screen and membrane used to remove remaining suspended solids.

The extent to which all this works can in theory be measured by using the TDS meter. Readings of 200-300 should come down to zero and if they don’t then the filter should be replaced. This came in very handy for ensuring the tasting experiment was truly independent. Two samples – one tap water and one filtered – were put in the fridge in covered glass containers. Glass because some people argue that plastic can taint flavour, and refrigerated so that samples were tasted like for like. Cool tap water might have an unfair advantage over room temperature filtered water. The samples were then distributed into identical glasses for tasting.

For all that our experiment was conducted with a sample size that was too small to be considered scientific, it was interesting that everyone identified which of the samples were filtered. All samples were confirmed as being filtered or otherwise after tasting by using the TDS meter. Still more interesting was that the majority of tasters preferred the tap water, although all agreed there was little difference. Tap water, it was decided, was a bit sharper, a bit more flavoursome.

As a final experiment, a glass of orange squash was put through the filter. If a filter has 99 per cent efficiency at digging out the dissolved solids then a reading of 274, as my orange juice was, should come down to 2 or 3ppm. And it did. The resulting filtered liquid was almost completely tasteless with just a merest hint of sweetness. It was, however, decidedly and disappointingly orange in colour, more than you might expect from a mere 2ppm.

One further observation is that the jug is about the height of a wine bottle, so if you want to store permanently in your fridge then that is the sort of clearance you need. My fridge isn’t able to accommodate such things so would require filtering water, filling bottles and laying them flat in the fridge, which is doable but just less elegant. The jug itself is nicely styled and it seems a shame not to use it as intended.

I have no recommendations as to whether to buy or not. Perhaps if you live in an area where there is danger of higher lead, mercury, cadmium etc levels then it starts to become more of a consideration, and if you conclude you are after a water filter then the Zerowater filter appears to be an efficient solution.