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A retailer claims that Bobble water bottles:

Filter your own bottled water with this unique and patented set of two Bobble Water Bottles. An active carbon filter eliminates toxins and harmful chemicals such as chlorine and other organic contaminants from the water as you sip. The filter itself lasts for about two months, or at least 300 fills

[...]

removes chlorine and other organic contaminants from your drinking water.

[...]

uses active carbon filter technology to remove unwanted contaminants from your drinking water so it meets the standards of NSF International Standard 42, the standard that governs the quality of public and private drinking water. How it works is simple, really: as you sip, the water passes over the carbon filter where the negative ions of the contaminants are drawn to, and captured by, carbon granules. The result? Filtered water free of chlorine and other common organic contaminants--with no resulting plastic water bottle waste.

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InquilineKea
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    In current form this question sounds too much like a commercial spam. – vartec Jul 31 '11 at 08:47
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    @vartec, that was my first impression too. The user's other questions (across the SEN and elsewhere) convinced me this wasn't a deliberate spam attempt; just someone asking about a product. – Oddthinking Jul 31 '11 at 13:54
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    btw. I know that in US "bottled water" means filtered tap water, but for the rest of the world "bottled water" is usually mineral and spring water. Hence total fiasco of Dasani in Europe. – vartec Jul 31 '11 at 15:02
  • This works perfect for me!! I have a private well with a reverse osmosis water system yet the water still has a strange metallic taste to it(due to large amount of iron most likely). The Bobble makes my water taste like perfect bottled water. Very much worth the $10 or whatever it is. –  Dec 20 '11 at 20:59
  • I purchased 2 Bobbles from BestBuy and upon testing the filtered water with a ppm tester the water had no change in quality. Matter of fact the ppm actaully gained 5 points making the water quality worse. In our humble opinion this product is worthless. We now have a Zerowater filter which took 693 ppm water down to 0 ppm. Amazing but the filter needs replacing often and they a expensive. –  Dec 23 '12 at 20:48

1 Answers1

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From description sounds like standard activated carbon filter. No mystery there. There are thousands of these on the market.

BTW. the standard they are referring to is:

NSF/ANSI Standard 42: Drinking Water Treatment Units - Aesthetic Effects Overview: This standard covers point-of-use (POU) and point-of-entry (POE) systems designed to reduce specific aesthetic or non-health-related contaminants (chlorine, taste and odor, and particulates) that may be present in public or private drinking water.

In other words, it doesn't serve for actually filtering water, that is not potable in first place.

vartec
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    I considered a very similar answer, posting the very same link. However, I decided that it didn't prove that activated carbon filtering could work in the context of a water bottle. The ones described here seemed [far more elaborate](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_water_purification) and I wonder if there is any scientific evidence that a tiny filter, with the water rushed through it, has any effect. – Oddthinking Jul 31 '11 at 14:01
  • @odd I'd have to agree; the water filters for tap water [I'm used too](http://www.brita.be/brita/nl-be/shop/classic/classic.grid?id=100406&category=cartridges&start=1) have much bigger filters, the filters need to be replaced every 3 months (IIRC) and the flow is not nearly fast enough to drink from – ratchet freak Jul 31 '11 at 14:44
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    @Odd: added reference to the standard, which makes it clear it's not water purification system. – vartec Jul 31 '11 at 14:57
  • Good find! I tried to find evidence that company had independent certification against the standard (which would, I think, resolve the question), but didn't find any. (Note: They don't claim that they have been independently certified; just that they meet the standard.) – Oddthinking Jul 31 '11 at 15:15
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    I just wrote to their PR department, asking if they have been independently certified. – Oddthinking Jul 31 '11 at 15:23
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    I got a non-responsive reply, pointing me to the FAQ. I have to assume that means no independent certification. – Oddthinking Aug 04 '11 at 04:38
  • @Oddthinking: How about writing back: I take this as confirmation that you aren't independently certificatied. If you don't voice objections describe your position that way on http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/. – Christian Aug 04 '11 at 15:59
  • @Christian: You've been reading my mail! I actually wrote: "The FAQ does not answer this question. I will have to assume you have not been independently certified, but have merely done the tests yourselves." – Oddthinking Aug 04 '11 at 16:05