This is Norris at As Seen on TV.Info, with our evaluation of the Zero Water filter. It was the bright smile of the girl in the ad following a sip of Zero Water that first caught our attention, and we will return to that. However, in fairness, the thrust of the ad is the effectiveness of the Zero Water filter in removing foreign solids, as measured by a meter that comes in their package. We purchased a second meter from a commercial source, and measured the unfiltered and filtered water with both meters. The results are shown on this screen. While we didn't receive a reading of zero, we got awfully close to it. We are convinced that the Zero Water filter does a much more thorough job of removing foreign solids than either the Brita or Pur filters.

Let's return to the taste test. Each of our five tasters tasted the three samples repeatedly, until they were satisfied with their conclusions. They found no extraordinary favorable taste in any of the samples. We believe the girl's smile was unrelated to the taste of the water.

We have more comments in the accompanying text that might be of interest to serious shoppers.

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The meters we used measure the amount of solids that have been absorbed by the water, in parts per million. The term 'Total Dissolved Solids', abbreviated TDS, is used for reference.

We found two academic sources for information on TDS: Wilkes University Center for Environmental Quality (www.water-research.net/totaldissolvedsolids.htm) and College of Pharmacy at University of Arizona (coep.pharmacy.arizona.edu/water/tds/index.html). Both state that there are no known health risks associated with TDS, and that it is related to "aesthetic" purposes, such as taste and odor. Moreover, one of the sites states that "People generally rate water as tasting excellent when TDS is around 300 ppm."

In taste tests, Tucson Water customers preferred a blend of water with TDS in the range of 350 - 450 parts per million.

None of these sources makes any distinction in the make-up of the solids, which can include sewage, urban run-off, industrial wastewater, lead and other minerals. Note that the water used in our tests had a very low concentration of solids, having come from a rural well. The Pur filter removed only about 10% of the solids. The Brita filter performed better, removing some 40%. Taste aside, if you have serious questions about the content of your water, the Zero Water filter was the only one to remove all of the solids.