After many years of drinking bottled and filtered water, something prompted a glance that caught on the jug on the counter with its little black granules on the bottom ("harmless" assures the blurb on the filter box) which indicates that I have just started, once again, on the 6-8 week cycle of water purification. Caught and said – "Hhmmmmmm". And then – "Why?" It made sense years ago and since then. Suddenly it didn’t.
So I am back to drinking tap water for the moment.
It tastes fine. And it is a pleasing temperature of coolness which was a surprise: not the too cold water that the refrigerator produces or the room warm water that a jug on the counter becomes.
It saves me about $63 a year in filters. Saves me time washing the jug and its components. Saves me figuring out six weeks on the calendar and marking it every time I buy a new filter, then adjusting the whole thing when I forget to check or forget to buy a new filter.
Mostly it has given me gratitude that I can turn on a tap and have drinkable water pour out.