Maybe extra importantly, Rorra, Boroux, and Culligan have shed almost all plastic from their gadgets, particularly in areas that are available in contact with filtered water. Boroux particularly has taken the additional step of achieving certification for microplastic filtration. If microplastics are a giant concern for you, the brand new era of gravity-fed filters does fairly a bit to alleviate these worries.
Finest Countertop Water Filter Total: Boroux Legacy
Of the three new-school gravity-fed techniques I examined, the Boroux is my Goldilocks alternative amongst usability, aesthetics, filter life, and intensive third-party testing. It is also obtained worldwide certifications to NSF standards (on this case, via the WQA) for particulate and microplastic elimination, along with lead-free manufacturing.
Unbiased third-party testing confirmed efficacy in opposition to chlorine, PFAS, and lead. And my very own testing confirmed its efficacy in chloramine-treated water techniques, lowering whole chlorine by greater than 95 p.c. The water tasted good. And the Boroux can be the prettiest water filter system I do know, which issues fairly a bit if it is going to reside in your kitchen for years.
Boroux additionally sells supplemental fluoride filters, for these anxious about fluoridated water. I wasn’t in a position to check the efficacy of this, as a result of I reside in Portland, Oregon, the biggest metropolitan space in America with out fluoride in its water. However unbiased, third-party testing backs up these claims.
One purpose for Boroux’s efficiency is straightforward: Boroux’s filters are a trusted know-how, functionally similar to the unique Berkey black filters made with a mixture of activated carbon and antimicrobial silver. Actually, they’re made by the Berkey filters’ unique producer, Clearbrook, which additionally individually sells its personal filters.
Berkey is just not presently promoting these filters. The corporate is as a substitute embroiled in an extended struggle with the Environmental Safety Company, which issued a stop-sale discover in 2023 on Berkey’s basic black activated-carbon filters, saying the corporate’s antimicrobial claims meant the Berkey water techniques had been being bought as unregulated pesticides. Berkey’s maker, New Millennium Ideas, has since been preventing this order in courtroom, however has additionally endorsed a filter known as the Phoenix that I am within the strategy of testing.

