How safe is the water you are drinking? If you use one of those pitchers with Brita water filters in it you may not have as safe of water as you could get using a different filtering method. Of course using any filter is better than drinking water right out of the faucet, but wouldn't you rather have all unhealthy substances removed, than just a portion of them.
You may be using Brita water filters because they are the best selling filters you can buy. Notice I did not say they were the best water filters you could buy, only that they are the best selling. One of the reasons they earn that title is they sell more filters than anyone else. And one of the reasons they sell more is the initial cost to purchase one is less.
The initial cost may be less expensive, than other brands and models, like an Aquasana countertop model, but that is where the cost savings ends. It costs about 22 cents a gallon to purify a gallon of water in those Brita pitchers, but it only cost 9 cents per gallon in the Aquasana counter top model.
Plus the Aquasana filter removes more dangerous contaminates. Those water pitchers remove some contaminates, but the filters are so small they cannot possibly filter out all the dangerous chemicals in our water supply today. They don't filter out the THM's, or chlorination byproducts. These harmful THM's trigger the free radical production in our bodies, which are highly carcinogenic and cause damage at the cellular level in the form of cancers.
So don't just look at what models are the least expensive in the beginning to buy. Look at the long-term cost of operating and look at the performance data sheets to find out what they remove from your drinking water.
If the performance data sheets don't list a certain contaminate on their sheet, you can almost always be assured the dangerous chemical is still in your water after it goes through their filter. If in doubt write them or email them and ask them if you are in question of any particular contaminate.
What ever water purification product you use, whether it be Brita water filters, Aquasana water filtration systems or any other method of purification check out their web sites and compare total costs, both initial cost and cost of filters including how many gallons of water they filter. Also find out the percentage of removal for all contaminates and decide for your self which system is best.
And remember just because Brita water filters are the best selling, they are not the best at filtering out dangerous contaminates.