Aquatru vs Berkey

One of the most common questions I get from friends and customers, is what water filter is the best. More specifically, what I think of the Berkey Water Filter, reverse osmosis (RO), the Kangen machine, clay filters, ionized water, ozonated water, hydrogen water – you name it! While I do intend to share my research on all of these filtration and water enhancement systems eventually, I’ll start by summarizing pros and cons with Berkey and Aquatru/RO water filters. 

As a step #1 – before purchasing any water filter or purifier – you should know, and ideally test, the quality of your tap water. As a disclaimer, our family has been using Aquatru for 3-4 years. It suited well the quality of water in Dubai where we lived at the time of the purchase, and we needed an affordable and portable solution.

After our move, I researched the quality of water in Costa Rica, and decided that Aquatru remained the best solution for us until we have our own source of high-quality alive spring water. To reduce contamination when showering, I chose Aqualux. 

Given the overwhelming amount of questions about Berkey, however, I’ve decided to do a deep dive to make an educated take. Aquatru and Berkey share some similarities but they also differ at some key points. I tried to do my best to summarize key features below. If you think I missed something, I welcome your comments below!

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Aquatru & Berkey filter operate very differently

AquaTru: uses a 4-stage reverse osmosis (RO) system. RO is considered the gold standard of water purification, which removes a wide range of dangerous chemicals, particles and microorganisms. 

• Stage 1: Mechanical Pre-Filter removes suspended solids such as dirt and rust
• Stage 2: Activated Coconut-Shell Carbon Block Filter removes chlorine, chloramines, and certain dissolved organic contaminants;
• Stage 3: Reverse Osmosis Membrane removes inorganic chemicals
• Stage 4: Coconut-Shell Activated VOC Carbon Block Filter removes organic compounds  like PFASs and pharmaceuticals and polishes the water

RO system doesn’t only remove contaminants but also minerals producing a low TDS (total dissolved solids) water. To increase mineral content of your water and make it bette recognize to the cells of your body, consider adding either mineral drops or a pinch of mineral-rich salt. 

Berkey: it’s a gravity, or so-called “pour-trough” filter. It uses gravity to pull water through an activated carbon media (e.g.  charcoal) and a small quantity of ion exchange resin that capture certain contaminants, that eventually accumulate on the filter media. Pores on the carbon media absorb mostly organic chemicals while ion exchange resin absorbs heavy metals and other contaminants.

Berkey has a higher listed water capacity

Aquatru: 600-1000 gallons. 

Berkey: 3000 gallons if 1 cartridge is used or 6000 gallons if 2 cartridges are used

Berkey requires a separate fluoride filter

No fluoride is added to tap water in Costa Rica (it’s added to the table salt instead) . If you, however, live outside of Costa Rica, this information is for you:

Aquatru: removes over 90% of fluoride. 

Berkey: requires a separate fluoride filter to filter out fluoride. 

Like many other gravity filters, Berkey uses aluminum oxide to filter out fluoride. Since I don’t have any proof, I’ll not be making any claims either – but just to make you aware, there are tests showing that white (fluoride) Berkey Filters leach aluminum oxide into the water. While it does have vastly different properties compared to pure aluminum, there’s not enough research to suggest that’s completely safe to ingest.

NSF/ANSI certification is important, and it’s what crucially sets the two filters apart

National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) is a global independent organization that tests, audits and certifies products and services. Water filters must pass very rigorous testing to be certified, and this certification protects the consumer by ensuring that the product produces a guaranteed volume of safe, purified drinking water. 

There are only four labs in the US that can test and certify to NSF standards: NSF, IAPMO, WQA and UL. They test water filters to the end of filter life to ensure that it’s equally safe to drink the first as the last gallon of water. This point is very important to remember:

A lab test that hasn’t been performed according to the NSF/ANSI standards, says nothing about the quality of filtered water during the entire life of the filter

Herein lies the crucial difference between Berkey and Aqautru, according to my humble opinion.

AquaTru : the system has been tested and is certified to remove 83 chemicals under ANSI/NSF Standards 42, 53, 58, 401 & P473. This means that it will remove dissolved organic compounds, chlorine compounds, heavy metals, radioactive substances and PFAS compounds (forever chemicals) as efficiently at the end of the life-cycle of the filters as at the beginning. 

Berkey: The company claims that their results exceed the limits set by NSF/ANSI based on the lab results that they’ve performed. This claim is however unsubstantiated because third-party labs never followed NSF/ANSI protocols in Berkey tests. They are not comparable to Aquatru test results either as they don’t disclose the limits on the maximum volume of safe, treated water. This means that even if Berkey Filter removes a particular contaminant, we cannot be certain at what point the filter will stop doing that. This also means that even if Berkey has a larger listed filtered water capacity, consumers will be right questioning quality of that filtered water until Berkey acquires the NSF/ANSI certification.

As a matter of fact, in September 2020, IAPMO R&T, the same EPA-qualified lab that tested AquaTru in accordance with the requirements of ANSI/NSF Standard 53, conducted the same performance testing  four Berkey Crown Water Filters that used two Black Berkey Element filters each. As you can see from the table below, none of the tested contaminants met the filter life or removal claims: 

I personally would also like to see lab results that show how effective the filters are after they’ve been cleaned a certain amount of times (on cleaning of the filters, please see below).

As a side note, some of the Berkey lab results where performed way back in 2009-2012.

To compare, these are the results for Aquatru:

Risk of contaminants re-entering filtered water

AquaTru: all contaminants end up as waste water in the tap water tank, while filtrated water ends up in filtrated water tank. Water from the two containers remains separated at all times. Waste water has to be discarded after each filtration session. 

For this reason, filters never get clogged, and the filtration process is quick (ca 10-15mins).

Berkey: Removed contaminants accumulate in the filter on the filtration media.  Over time, this accumulation will start to plug the filter and reduce flow. Additionally, some of these contaminants may release from the media and enter the filtered water.

Berkey Filters should be cleaned on a regular basis – with bleach

Since the filters get clogged with contaminants, Berkey recommends cleaning the lower chamber once a month and the Black Berkey filters after 6-12 months of use.  

Since Berkey claims that their Black Berkey filters can be cleaned up to 100 times, there should, in my personal opinion, be clear lab tests results that show that the filters work as well when completely new compared to when they’ve been cleaned for say 73 times. 

If I’m wrong on this one, and you have lab certified results to prove that gently scrubbing the outside of the filters for a few minutes as per Berkey’s instructions removes every single hazardous contaminant trapped in the filter and ensures that quality of the filtered water remains the same as when the first gallon was filtered, I’d love if you could comment below and share those results with me!

I should also mention that Berkey recommends adding bleach when cleaning the filters not to contaminate them with the exact same tap water they have been filtering.

It goes without saying that we should keep any food or water sources away from bleach, which is a strong chemical. Submerging the filters in water with bleach exposes consumers to the risk that traces of bleach stuck in the filter will re-enter the water.

Last but not least, unlike Aquatru, Berkey doesn’t have a digital display to warn us when it’s time to change – or clean – the filters. 6-12 months time window for cleaning is a wide one, and cleaning your filters after 8 months might have already exposed you to hazardous contaminants (provided that Berkey actually filters water properly to the gallon #6000, which we don’t know as per above).

And finally – does every single customer know that they must clean their Berkeys? And even if they know, do they actually do it? Because if not, and even if Berkey does an absolutely outstanding job filtering the water, consumers by design will after a while be exposed to dangerous contaminants.

Berkey is better at water & energy conservation

AquaTru: requires electricity to operate. Electricity powers the pump, which substantially speeds up filtration process (it takes about an hour to filter 1 gallon with Berkey vs 10-15mins for Aquatru). This is not very convenient in a country like Costa Rica that doesn’t have a reliable power supply.

Additionally, 1/4 of filtrated water ends up in waste water together with the contaminants, and needs to be discarded. This is substantial, and the system is obviously wasteful. This is one of the largest drawbacks with Aquatru in my view.

Berkey: requires no electricity and produces no waste water. 

No installation or plumbing required with either system

What’s important to keep in mind is that both Berkey and Aquatru countertop are meant as user-friendly plug-and-play type of water filters. None of them requires any plumbing; Berkey doesn’t actually even have to be plugged in. If you don’t have a permanent residency or are simply not ready to invest in a more elaborate filtration solution, they provide a simple way out.

As with everything, however, simplicity requires trade offs. None of these filters are bulletproof. Ideally, your water shouldn’t come out of a machine but from deep down the earth to carry the force, energy and minerals that our bodies recognize and crave for. Since few us have access to high quality alive spring water, we do what we can by choosing a water filter that does the job.

In my opinion, if you are based in the country that’s notorious for its poor quality of tap water (e.g. US, Canada etc) consider investing in a more sophisticated under sink or whole house solution that utilizes 10-12 stage filtration system including remineralization and restructuring features. 

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Final thoughts

While I had my doubts about Berkey, having spent dozens of hours doing research for this post, I managed to clear them. Instead, I’ve built up a strong conviction that there’s not enough evidence to support the claims that Berkey’s been making about its filtration system. There’s simply no proof that it filters 6000 gallons as efficiently as 25-100 gallons (as their own lab tests were performed with). And even if they do, their performance is contingent upon people not forgetting to clean their filters regularly – using toxic bleach. So all in all it appears to me that Berkey team has done a better job at marketing than water filtration.

Drinking clean uncontaminated water is absolutely essential to staying healthy and vibrant.  Having said that, however, I think that it’s important to keep in mind that any water filter can do just as much. There are no perfect water filters that remove every single contaminant that’s present in our highly polluted environment.

Purchase a water filter that’s certified to do  the best job for the tap water in your area, and make sure that your detox pathways are open to help your body get rid of what your water filter is not able to do.  

And let’s not forget that there’s so much more to water than filtration or even hydration. That will be subject to the next article!

In the meanwhile, if you are looking for water and shower filters well equipped to deal with contaminants present in the tap water in Costa Rica, you can find our selection here.

Con mucho amor,

Milda & Co