Zero Water Filters are countertop units that use a 5-stage filtration method to purify your drinking water.
This filtration method removes the most common contaminants that can be found in tap water, fluoride being one of them.
Fluoride
Fluoride is a naturally occurring chemical that is very common in water all throughout the world. It’s present mostly in rocks, so water that’s drawn from aquifers or wells is much more likely to contain higher amounts of the chemical.
In small doses, fluoride can be actually beneficial for your teeth and even offers a bit of protection against tooth decay. This is why fluoride is actually used as a component in a lot of toothpaste.
However, in higher doses, it can have some significant side effects like dental and skeletal fluorosis in developing children. Dental fluorosis creates white patches on teeth and can make them appear stained. Skeletal fluorosis, on the other hand, may weaken bones and even cause issues like calcified ligaments in severe cases.
Luckily, for your drinking water to actually significantly contribute to these issues, the water that you’re drinking would need to contain 4 mg/L of fluoride, which is quite a lot. For reference, the CDC believes that the water should only contain around 0.7 mg/l of fluoride or just around that, so 4 mg/L is well above five times the limit.
To be on the safe side, we recommend getting a water testing kit to determine what the fluoride level in your drinking water is.
Removing Fluoride with the Zero Water Filter
Regardless of what the fluoride levels in your drinking water might be, the Zero Water Filter can help you eliminate all of it.
You have two units to pick from – the 12-cup model and the 22-cup model. Both units are identical but for the difference in water capacity, which makes the second pricier, so feel free to pick whichever one fits your needs better.
The system uses a 5-stage filtration system. The components of the system are as follows:
- Coarse filter screen
- Foam distributor
- Activated carbon filter
- Ion exchange resin
- Ultra-fine membrane
The first stage removes any soil or solid contaminants that might cloud up your water, while the second stage is simply a finer filter that catches the smaller molecules that sneak by the first filter layer.
The third stage then removes organic contaminants like pesticides and herbicides, and the fourth eliminates inorganic compounds and radiological contaminants. This is the stage when the fluoride is removed from the water.
The final stage is the finest filter yet that catches even the smallest molecules that are present in the water.
What Do Zero Water Filters Remove?
Even if the water in your home doesn’t have exceptionally high levels of fluoride, there’s still a fair chance that it might contain some other undesirable contaminants. The good news is that the Zero Water filter can eliminate most of them.
Zero Water filters can remove metals like antimony, iron, and mercury, as well as inorganic contaminants like chlorine, cyanide, and nitrate. This is just a short number of the most common contaminants, and the filter is actually capable of getting rid of a lot more harmful chemicals.
Additionally, as seen on the chart that we just linked, not only can the Zero Water filters remove a large number of different contaminants, but they can also remove a large percentage of them. What we mean is that they can get rid of 99% or a certain chemical from your drinking water, which is a testament to the effectiveness of the system.
Zero Water Filter Alternatives That Can Remove Fluoride
If you can’t get your hands on a Zero Water filter for some reason, there are also a few other alternatives for removing fluoride from your drinking water that you might be interested in.
| Name | Capacity | Price |
| Clearly Filtered | 80oz | $ 90.00 |
| Waterdrop | Unlimited | $ 19.99 |
| AquaTru | 1 gallon | $ 449.00 |
Clearly Filtered Water Pitcher with Affinity Filtration Technology
This pitcher is a great option for anyone that’s looking to purify their water without having to spend too much money on a full-house filtration system.
It’s designed to hold 80oz of water, which means that you can get around 10 cups of water out of it before you need to refill it again. The filters are easy to remove and replace, and the pitcher itself is small enough to fit in any refrigerator if you prefer your water chilled.
While the pitcher’s capacity isn’t all that large, the 3-stage filtration system it employs can eliminate most microplastics, lead, and of course, fluoride.
Waterdrop 320-Gallon Long-Lasting Faucet Water Filter
A faucet filter is a great option for anyone that prefers to have purified water on tap whenever they want over having to fill countertop units and wait for the purification process to finish.
This Waterdrop model is cheap, easy to install, and you only need to turn on the faucet for it to start filtering your water automatically. It can get rid of many common water contaminants, and you’ll only need to replace the filter after 320 gallons have passed through it.
The disadvantage of the Waterdrop Long-Lasting Faucet filter is the same as with other faucet units – the filtration process needs to go pretty quickly, or the water flow will get interrupted. This means that these filters aren’t the most effective at removing anything other than the most common contaminants that get caught in the mesh filter.
AquaTru Reverse Osmosis Water System
The AquaTru is a countertop filtration system, so it’s the unit most similar to the Zero Water filter in both appearance and function.
It has a capacity large enough to hold a gallon of water, which is pretty decent for a countertop unit. It can also remove 82 different water contaminants, including fluoride, lead, chlorine, and many others.
All you need to do to use this unit is to place it on a surface in your kitchen, fill it with water, and start it up.
The biggest downside of this filter is obviously the price, which makes it 5 times more expensive than the pitcher.
Conclusion
Smaller amounts of fluoride can benefit your health, but since these amounts are already present in most brands of toothpaste, the benefits of fluoride in water can be simulated by simply brushing your teeth.
The negative side effects, on the other hand, can be pretty significant if the concentration is high enough.
The Zero Water filter can neutralize all these negative side effects, as well as the negative side effects that come with a lot of other common water contaminants.
However, if you can’t get a Zero Water filter, then the other units on our list can also get the job done. They all come with their own advantages and disadvantages so pick whichever one fits your preferences better.
The Clearly Filtered Water Pitcher is easy to use and easy to store, but it can only purify around 10 cups of water at a time, so its capacity is pretty limited.
The Waterdrop 320 is easy to install, very cost-effective, and can filter a whole 320 gallons before the filter needs to be replaced. However, the filter it uses is the least effective one on our list, and it lets the most fluoride through.
And finally, the AquaTru is an expensive unit, but it makes up for it by being easy to use, having a very effective filter, and being able to purify at least 600 gallons of water before the filters need to be replaced.
