Boulder pilot — pre-launch
Filtered water, kombucha, and functional beverages in glass growlers — refilled by neighbors. The pilot is pre-launch and nothing is for sale. The neighborhood refill station replaces the plastic-bottle habit.
Worker-owned is the design goal, not a slogan: the plan is member ownership and a voice on the member board, not outside investors. The cooperative is not yet formed, so no equity has been issued.
Join the pilot waitlistEmail only. The waitlist is not a membership and asks nothing of you. We write when the Boulder pilot opens.
Press play. No sound unless you turn it on.
Three product lanes
Water
Planned: refill at any cooperative station once the pilot opens.
Kombucha + functional beverages
Planned: growler refills at neighborhood stations.
Postbiotics + functional add-ins
Planned: postbiotic add-ins for your refill. General wellness, not medical care — we do not claim HSA/FSA eligibility for beverages.
Why this
Bottled water drinkers ingest up to 90,000 more microplastic particles per year than people who drink filtered tap water. A single liter of bottled water contains an average of 240,000 nanoplastic particles. Your brain is up to 0.5% plastic by weight.
This is not a luxury water brand. It is a planned cooperative that refills your glass.
EPA & CDC data — what's actually in municipal tap water
The EPA's National Primary Drinking Water Regulations set Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) for over 90 contaminants. “Safe” means below those limits — not zero. Here's what's commonly present, what it does, and what actually removes it. Filter claims vary widely; look for NSF/ANSI certification on the label, not marketing copy.
← Swipe to see all columns →
| Contaminant | Source | Health concern | Removes it |
|---|---|---|---|
| PFAS (PFOA, PFOS) | Manufacturing, firefighting foam | Cardiovascular, immune, liver effects; potential cancer risk. EPA MCL: 0.000004 mg/L. | Reverse osmosis (94%+ reduction). Activated carbon (certified only). Boiling does nothing. |
| Lead | Corroding pipes and fixtures in older homes | Developmental delays in children; kidney and blood pressure problems in adults. No safe level for children. | NSF/ANSI 53-certified pitcher or under-sink filter. Reverse osmosis. First-flush flushing helps but doesn't eliminate. |
| Chloramine (disinfectant byproduct) | Added by utilities as treatment | Eye and nose irritation, stomach discomfort, anemia at high exposure. Standard carbon struggles with chloramine. | Catalytic carbon (specific type — not all carbon). Reverse osmosis. Standard pitcher filters often insufficient. |
| Trihalomethanes (THMs) | Chlorine reacting with organic matter in water | Long-term exposure linked to increased cancer risk. EPA MCLG: 0. | Activated carbon (certified, NSF 53). Reverse osmosis. Boiling concentrates, not removes. |
| Nitrates | Fertilizer runoff, septic systems | Blue-baby syndrome in infants under 6 months — life-threatening. MCL: 10 mg/L. | Reverse osmosis. Ion exchange. Carbon filters do not remove nitrates. |
| Arsenic | Natural deposits, agricultural runoff | Skin damage, circulatory problems, increased cancer risk. MCL: 0.01 mg/L. | Reverse osmosis. Activated alumina. Standard carbon does not remove arsenic. |
| Nanoplastics | Plastic bottle breakdown, infrastructure | 1 liter of bottled water contains ~240,000 nanoplastic particles (2024 Columbia/Rutgers study). Brain tissue accumulation documented. | Reverse osmosis removes most. Standard carbon: limited data. Glass containers eliminate the bottled water source. |
Entry level
Standard pitcher filter (carbon)
$20–60 + $50–100/yr replacement
Removes: Chlorine, some VOCs, sediment. Improves taste and odor.
Doesn't remove: A basic pitcher (NSF/ANSI 42 only) does not remove PFAS, lead, nitrates, arsenic, fluoride, or nanoplastics. Some NSF/ANSI 53-certified pitchers reduce lead or PFAS: check that the listing names it.
Look for NSF/ANSI 42 or 53
Best broad-spectrum
Under-sink reverse osmosis
$200–600 installed + ~$50/yr filters
Removes: 94%+ of PFAS, lead, arsenic, nitrates, fluoride, TDS. Broadest contaminant removal.
Doesn't remove: Wastes 3–5 gallons per gallon produced. Removes beneficial minerals — some add remineralization stage.
NSF/ANSI 58 (for PFAS, EPA says look for 53 or 58)
Mid-range
Whole-house catalytic carbon
$1,000–4,000 installed
Removes: Chlorine, chloramine, some VOCs. Treats every tap.
Doesn't remove: Does not remove PFAS, heavy metals, nitrates, or TDS at useful levels.
NSF/ANSI 42
Mid-range
Countertop ceramic + carbon
$100–300
Removes: Sediment, chlorine, some bacteria (ceramic stage), VOCs. No waste water.
Doesn't remove: Limited PFAS removal. Performance depends heavily on specific media and certification.
NSF/ANSI 53 for health claims
HSA/FSA eligibility for water filtration
Water filtration systems are not automatically HSA/FSA eligible. A physician Letter of Medical Necessity documenting a specific condition — chemical sensitivity, immune compromise, medically required mineral intake — can document §213(d) eligibility. Eligibility is then determined by your plan administrator, not the physician alone. Confirm with your plan first. fillforward's planned refills are filtered, remineralized water in glass, not medical devices.
Filter finder
Tick the contaminants you care about. The best place to start is your water utility's yearly Consumer Confidence Report, which lists what was actually measured in your water: find yours at epa.gov/ccr.
Works in this page only: nothing you tick is sent or saved. It restates the table above and EPA's guidance on certified filters (checked 2026-09-29). It compares filter types, not brands, and fillforward sells no filters.
Tick at least one contaminant to compare filters.
Your refill, one year out
Set how many single-use bottled drinks you go through in a week. See a year of switching to a neighborhood glass-growler refill — in particles and in plastic.
About the add-ins. Postbiotic and functional beverage add-ins are general wellness, not medical care. We make no HSA/FSA or pre-tax claim for any beverage or add-in.
Illustrative estimates, rounded, for one person over one year. Microplastic figure based on published research (~240,000 particles per liter of bottled water; ~0.5 L assumed per drink) and is provided for information only — not medical advice.
The math for one Boulder household
Two adults, illustrative habits. Single-use containers per year, counted from the habits listed.
Case-pack bottled water (24 bottles/week)
24 × 52 weeks — run your own numbers ↑
~1,250 bottles
Sparkling water habit (2 cans/day each, two adults)
4 × 365 days — run your own numbers ↑
~1,460 cans
Kombucha (4 bottles/week)
4 × 52 weeks — run your own numbers ↑
~210 bottles
Single-use containers in all
bottles and cans, from the three habits above — run your own numbers ↑
~2,920 a year
Planned: the same drinks, refilled in glass
Not open yet
Illustrative. Your own count depends on your habits.
Part of a planned cooperative network
fillforward is planned as part of the same network as co-op.care aging care and ComfortCard. The plan is for each layer to be owned by its members. fillforward's cooperative is not formed yet.
Read the manifestoBoulder pilot waitlist — pre-launch, date not set
Disclaimer: fillforward is a pre-launch cooperative under development. No products are currently available for purchase. fillforward makes no HSA/FSA eligibility claim for any beverage or add-in. Microplastic statistics cited reflect published research and are provided for informational purposes only — they do not constitute medical advice. Joining this waitlist does not create a membership, contract, or cooperative equity interest.