BOROUX: the successor to Berkey that Europe has yet to discover

Where BOROUX comes from

When the US environmental agency EPA halted the individual sale of Black Berkey elements in early 2023, it left a gap: millions of households with a stainless steel housing that lasts for decades, and no more elements to put in it. The answer did not come from Berkey itself, but from two parties who knew the product inside out: the team behind the largest American Berkey dealer and the factory that had made the original Black Berkey formula all those years. Together they started a new brand: BOROUX. You can read the full story about that American decision in the Black Berkey explainer.

The same formula, neatly within the rules

The BOROUX Foundation Black filters use the same basic formula of, among other things, compressed activated carbon as the original Black Berkey elements, made in the same place in America, with new patented improvements. The difference lies in the registration: BOROUX makes no claims about micro-organisms (bacteria and viruses), and therefore falls outside the American pesticides act that proved Berkey's undoing. The elements have also been tested by the independent IAPMO laboratory and certified by WQA to NSF/ANSI 42 (taste, odour, particulates), NSF/ANSI 372 (lead-free material) and NSF/ANSI 401 (microplastics); the test reports per substance are simply online, in the shop's library.

Its own systems, four colours

BOROUX did not stop at individual filter elements. The Legacy (11.4 litres) and Legacy Compact (6.8 litres) are complete systems made of food-safe stainless steel (AISI 304), supplied as standard with two BOROUX Foundation elements. And because BOROUX supplied directly to end customers for years, they know what people want besides performance: the systems also come in white, black and sage green, with matching stainless steel taps and sight glass taps. A water filter you do not have to hide away.

Honest about fluoride

The BOROUX Foundation elements do not filter fluoride; that emerged from the first tests and BOROUX says so plainly. Of course, this was the same with the Black Berkey filters. If you want to reduce fluoride, fit the powerful ProActive Fluoride filters underneath: one per Foundation element, with an upflow design that guides the water from the bottom to the top. So without coming into contact with the filtered water and without the use of aluminium oxide. This is, then, in contrast to Berkey's fluoride filters. And the best part: they also fit directly onto Black Berkey elements in an existing Berkey system.

And Europe?

Here it gets special: in the whole of Europe there is exactly one official BOROUX dealer, and it is based in Hegelsom (the Netherlands). Alternatievemiddelen.nl brought the brand to the Netherlands, primes the elements for you if you wish (or you can use the electric priming pump: ninety seconds per element) and simply answers questions via WhatsApp. Anyone in Europe who buys a BOROUX buys it from Tom and Melanie.

In short. BOROUX = the original Black Berkey formula, continued by the people who made and sold it, without the legal baggage. Elements fit in any Berkey housing, its own systems come in four colours, test reports are public, and the only European dealer is in the Netherlands.