Abstract
Background
Brita has been mass producing water filtration systems for the average consumer since 1966 based on creating the best tasting, healthy water with the simplest filtering system. In recent years, the company has moved its production off United States soil and onto China and Malaysia ground. Brita has recently announced that they are starting a recycling program for all of their replaceable filters, which is based in Massachusetts.
Multi-Pure is a water filtration company based out of Las Vegas that has been producing custom, advanced water filtration systems on a costumer-by-customer basis since 1977. There is a single independent business owner that supplies Multi-Pure water filtration systems to the greater part of Humboldt County and probably one in most cities too. This company produces all of its water filtration systems in Las Vegas and ships these systems via UPS Ground or UPS Air depending on how far the customer is from Las Vegas.
Problem statement
Which system is the best for Arcata residents who want to make the least impact on their wallet and the environment while receiving the healthiest water that they can?
Our project compares water filtration systems by Multi-Pure and Brita. We are comparing the two types of water filtration systems on financial cost, CO2 released in transport and contaminants released into a person, in order to discover which is most appropriate for people living in Arcata, California. Brita and Multi-Pure filtering systems both offer similar technology to filter the water, but what does it take for those filters to make it to a consumer's home?
We are assuming that a household will have four people in it, that the flow of water will stay constant and no additional contaminants will be introduced into the system other than what our data supplied by Humboldt Municipal Water District provided. Brita provide basic information, through a phone interview, on where and how their filtering system is produced and shipped. We will also consider, if assembled in another country, any information on what the filter is made of; how many gallons does it filter before replacement is recommended; and any other relevant information that we request. It is assumed that this company will not give us all the information in detail that we want. Multi-Pure is expected to give similar data and information about its product as Brita and offer any some additional insight that Brita won't comment on.
Instructions
Here is some help uploading files.
Media:Totals.xls links directly to a file (as opposed to Image:).
Justifications
Results
Enter your own data to see your carbon footprint with regards to getting the filter to you and disposal of product based on where you live.
Media:Totals.xls
Conclusions
Discussion and next steps
One section of this analysis that was not explored was the in regard to the materials used to produce the water filtration systems. We were able to get some information about what each filtration system was made of, but were unable to explore how those materials were manufactured, what goes into them, can they be recycled, what their impact to the environment is during disposal, and, if they are placed in a landfill, what is their rate of deterioration?
References
See Help:Footnotes for more.
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