Sales of water filters rose last year, presumably at least in part because of the demonization of bottled water. Criticism of bottled water has eclipsed its previous reputation as a healthful, virtuous alternative to carbonated sodas. The pitch for filters is that they’re a cheaper and less wasteful alternative to bottled water — but still offer access to the ideal of purity that made bottled water popular in the first place. The core appeal and selling point is, essentially, removal. Sometimes this is expressed through claims about the percentage of “pharmaceuticals” or “lead, cryptosporidium and giardia, TTHMs and V.O.C.” — total trihalomethanes and volatile organic compounds — that may or may not be present in your tap water; sometimes the virtues of filtration are couched more benignly as promises of health and taste. The bottom line, however, is invariably the delivery of pristine water uncluttered by nonwater elements.
It may seem surprising, then, that a filter maker would attempt a kind of jujitsu move on the notion of purity: What if you took water with all the bad stuff screened out and . . . added something to it? This proposition has taken the form of Pur Flavor Options — faucet-mounted or pitcher filters that accommodate individual “flavor cartridges.” Sold in grocery stores, drugstores and discount department stores like Wal-Mart, these cartridges come in “five tasty fruit flavors,” including grape, peach and lemon.
