When it comes to an emergency and your water supply has been cut short or contaminated, you may want to have a water purification system available, just in case. Drinking plenty of water is important for our everyday health, and we always want the purest water possible.  The last thing you want is water with harmful substances and chemicals in it.  Things like Chlorine, lead, bacteria and other contaminants can be bad for our health.  Bottled waters may also include harmful substances, despite their high price and fancy sales pitches.

For the above reasons it's important to have a backup plan for getting clean, pure water in emergencies, or just for your general health.  Well when it comes to purifying water, Big Berkey water filters are among the most versatile water purifying systems available. These filtration systems will purify water of all types, making them ideal for homes, travel, activities outside or even unexpected emergencies.

There's no need to take chances with the water available to you. It's best to use the Big Berkey to purify and clean that water completely, without removing the beneficial minerals from it. Use this impressive water filtration system while traveling to other countries, camping, vacationing, or for inside your own home!

The Big Berkey filter will purify treated and untreated water.  Untreated water can come from sources like lakes, streams, ponds or other sources such as the water supplies in foreign countries.  It's great for use where there may be a lack of treated water or for places where there is no electricity or water pressure.

Big Berkey will remove any bacteria, cysts and parasites from the water and also take out harmful chemicals including pesticides, radon 222, herbicides and organic solvents.  Additionally, it will greatly reduce nitrates, nitrites as well as lead and mercury, among other minerals.  The company even claims that it is so good at purifying it can remove food color from water, but will not remove beneficial minerals with it.

The silver Big Berkey is made out of a highly polished 304 stainless steel.  It includes two purification units which use the latest technologies for purifying water.  You can store up to 2.25 gallons (8.5 liters) inside the Big Berkey which stands at a height of 19.25 inches, when in use, with a diameter of 8.5 inches.   When you are transporting the filter system, it has a height of just 13 inches since the upper chamber nests inside the lower chamber to make it more portable.

The two Black Berkey purification elements inside this filter system will purify up to 3 1/2 gallons of water per hour.  You may decide to expand this particular filter system so it can have four purification elements.  In that case, it will be able to purify up to 7 gallons of water per hour!

The Big Berkey water filter system consists of two parts; the upper and lower chamber. The lower chamber can hold up to 2.5 gallons of water, and has the nozzle on front, as well as a rubber lip on the bottom to prevent scratching on your countertops. The upper chamber allows for up to four filtration units to be placed inside. There's four corresponding holes on the bottom side of the upper chamber. These will have a 2 filter and 2 plugs configuration or a 4 water filter configuration installed.  For travel purposes, you can simply remove the top chamber and flip it upside down to "nest" it inside the lower chamber, making it much more compact!

To use Big Berkey's water purification system you simply remove the top lid, then pour the water inside that you want to treat. That water can come from pretty much any source; the tap, a river, pond, lake, etc. After putting the water in the chamber, close the top. The water will be pushed down by gravity and go through the 2 or 4 filters you have installed, going down to the bottom chamber. In one hour, it'll do its purifying work, and you'll have gallons of pure, clean water available from the front spicket/nozzle.

There's also bigger models like the Berkey light, and the Royal Berkey, and portable camping models available as well from Berkey.

Big Berkey is often sold out of the Big Berkey Water Filter systems. At the official site they are out of stock until Labor day 2009. However, you can find plenty of models available on various internet sites such as eBay and Amazon at reasonable prices. Check out the latest items below so you can enjoy the purifying functions of the Big Berkey!

Do you or someone you know currently own a Big Berkey?  Thinking of getting one?  Feel free to leave any comments you have about these water filter systems below!