(CLOSED) To Know it is to Love It – Zero Water Review and Giveaway

I am not an avid water drinker.  It’s not that I don’t like drinking water, I just find that it’s boring.  Or maybe it’s just that the taste is ‘off’ and not appealing.  Sure, our water is treated locally and is supposed to be the best in the area, blah, blah, blah, but tell that to my taste buds.   You know how you’re supposed to drink 8 eight-ounce glasses of water a day?  I’m lucky if I drink 8 eight-ounces in a week.  I know.  Bad.

I could blame it on the not-so-old refrigerator that suddenly decided not to make ice any more.  So the hubby has chosen not to replace the filter until it gets fixed.  Which means technically the water through the fridge is no longer filtered.  Sure, I pick up bottled water.  Once in a while.  But they don’t fit in the fridge as easily as soda cans do.  Ahem.

I thought about getting one of those purifier units you put on your faucet.  But I’ve had problems with those in the past, and really don’t want to go there again.  I’m picky – I like my hot stuff hot and my cold stuff cold.  So without ice, my water is going to be pretty tepid during the summer months when I really would prefer it to be cold.  So I just avoided drinking water unless I was out and about.

Until now.

When I was asked to try the Zero Water Pitcher, I was intrigued.  Especially considering that ZeroWater® is the only filtered water from a pitcher that meets the FDA definition for purified bottled water.*  So it must be good.

Princess Nagger ooohed and aaaaahed over the pitcher when it arrived – and wondered if they make them in purple.  Her favorite color.  When I pointed out the color blue represents water, she conceded that blue is fine.  The pitcher itself is super easy to set up – you attach the included filter, place the whole thing in the pitcher, then fill’er’up.  OK, so filling the pitcher takes a while.  But it’s going through 5 different filtration systems within the same filter, so patience is a virtue.

And patience pays off.

Since the included TDS meter wasn’t working (they include the meter with all the pitchers so you can not only measure and confirm that the Zero Water is zero, you can compare it to your other water sources and it also lets you know when it’s time to change the filter.)  The company is kindly sending a new meter so I can have that option, but for now I was just going to do a simple taste test.

Besides, my taste buds are pretty well tuned – I can taste the difference between Coke and Pepsi in a blind taste test, so I figured I’d be able to taste the difference of the Zero Water vs. my tap water.  And I enlisted the help of Princess Nagger’s taste buds.  Here’s the pitcher (notice it’s a bit foggy since I just took it out of the fridge – remember, cold is good!):

Isn’t it pretty?  Princess Nagger thinks so, too.  Notice the spigot on the back?  That’s one of Princess Nagger’s favorite features.  She can get fresh, clean, cold water (she takes after her Mama – gotta have her cold stuff cold!) right out of the fridge without having to have help to lift the pitcher and pour.

Or when it’s out of the fridge sitting on the counter.  You get the idea.

First we tasted a sip of our tap water, straight from the tap.  Meh, not too bad, but not great either.  Then we tasted the water from the Zero Water pitcher.  Amazing difference!  The water was fresh and clean – you could actually taste its pureness.  In fact, it tasted better than the filtered water from the fridge – you know, when we had a fresh filter on it.

After I filled it up and put it in the fridge, I noticed that Princess Nagger was actually drinking more water – and she previously seemed to have an aversion to it like I do.  Now with the convenience (and the fact that the water actually does taste good) both her and I have dramatically increased our water intake on a daily basis.  Happily.

What really sold me (besides the crisp, clean taste of the filtered water) is that the company is also eco friendly:

We’re all trying to reduce our impact on the world around us. And nobody understands that better than ZeroWater®. Not only do our patented 5-stage Ion Exchange filters deliver the best-tasting filtered water available, they’re also recyclable. In fact, Zero Technologies, LLC is proud to be the only major company that recycles gravity filter cartridges from U.S. customers. Just send them back and we’ll separate each filter. The plastic as well as the materials inside it will be sent to various facilities for reuse.

Using ZeroWater® pitchers and cooler bottles show you’re serious about reducing plastic bottle waste, too. The average household can eliminate nearly 2,800 plastic PET bottles per year simply by switching to ZeroWater® filtered water pitchers†. So while you’re drinking clean water, you’re helping make the environment clean, too.

How Would You Like to Try One of These Zero Water Pitchers for Free?

Win It:

Here’s your chance to win a Zero Water Pitcher:

The Pitcher comes with the following products:

• One ZeroWater® filter cartridge that removes contaminants that cause water to have an unpleasant taste.
• An independently made TDS Meter to give you peace of mind that your ZeroWater® filter cartridges are working properly. It also lets you know when to replace the filters. When your water starts reading 006 it’s time for a change.
• The one-chamber Pitcher with lid has a pour spout, exclusive in-fridge push button dispenser and a special storage compartment for the TDS Meter.
• More complete filtration than ordinary carbon filters
• Clean, crisp taste
• Includes one Pitcher, one filter, and one TDS meter.

*Filtered potable tap water tested by an independent lab (not the FDA) to meet specifically the water quality requirements for using the label purified. Compared to water produced by leading gravity fed filters.

Required Entry:

(must be completed before any extra entries are valid) Leave a comment sharing what kind of water do you drink – tap, bottled, purified, etc.

If your email address is not visible in your profile, you must include it in your comments (or send it to me in an email if you don’t want to publicly display it).

Extra entry options: (these are optional – increase your chance to win!)

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• Blog about the giveaway – 3 entries (leave link to blog post)
  

You have until 11:59pm EST on May 2, 2010 to enter. 1 lucky winner will be randomly selected. I will email the winner and post the name here. Winner will have 48 hours to respond to the notification email or a new winner will be chosen. Open to US residents. Good luck!

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A big thank you to ZeroWater for providing me with the product for review and giveaway.  The opinions are of my own personal experience and not influenced by any outside source.  Disclosure policy here.

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Happy Earth Day!