Myself, wife, 2 small children, and pets live in an apt with no outdoor space in southern Manhattan. In my circa 20 years of living here we have either lost tap water or have had contaminated water on many occasions due to everything from power outages to water main breaks to replacement of pipes and tanks in our apt buildings. I'm not one to not do my homework so I surfed and purchased the Sawyer PointONE system. Already have a waterbob tank as well as bottled water figured this system would be good in case of contamination of the tap water. Whew done. Sawyer comes out with the MINI system; order 4 of those to have in the edc bag, the car, etc. I think 80 bucks well spend. Reading more forums; boom there is something called the purificup. Wow this thing take the Sawyer devices to another level as they get rid of bacteria, viruses, as well as heavy metals, chlorine, pesticides, etc. Around $50 and vs the sawyers above the cost per gallon is much higher but its for emergency use so I'm good. So I've spent about $200 in water filters so far. More research find the Berkey purification systems. They do all of the above plus a lot more. So....before I drop $200-$250 on a Berkey I wanted to ask is there anything else I should consider? In retrospect the sawyer products are great for camping. The purificup has its place but on a cost per gallon basis its kinda a lot. Anyways interested in purification systems that can take as much nasty - biological and chemical - out of the water as possible.

Boiling has always worked for me, and I have consumed from some pretty nasty water sources, although usually the problem has been bacteria, feces, and the like, not chemical contamination. I honestly don't think you need all those elaborate systems. A good stove will work just fine.

You're looking for a water purification expert? With all the stuff you've already bought, I'd say you're probably approaching the expert level yourself. Or, you have more money than you know what to do with, and fancy buying more purification devices to get rid of your extra cash. It looks like you missed the LifeStraw family of products though: http://eartheasy.com/lifestraw-family-1-0

I'd say you're pretty well covered for water purification already.

abs. boiling is THE way to get rid of bacteria and viruses. That being said I am looking for a "catch-all" type system. Ie something that can kill or filter out the living stuff as well as get rid of lead, copper, chemicals, etc. I can also think of scenarios where we are not able to boil water.

I can empathize . I'm in a high-rise apartment building not all that far away fom you. We are a family of 4, including 2 grown children, one of whom has multiple challenges . I have a large soaking tub and a good sealing strategy for GP wash up / toilet flush. For drinking, bottled water. I also have to refill my 8 5gal. plastic water cans. In the mean time, I have bottled water, with backup purification supplied by a General Ecology, First Need Deluxe, hand pump purifier. Semi old tech, but none better. Purifies everything, slowly, with effort, no max shelf life on filter to worry about.

Haertig thanks for your response. You not only managed to be an [censored] but you failed to read my post and answer my question. Lifestraw, Sawyer, etc get rid of viruses and bacteria only. I am looking for something that will also get rid of heavy metals, pesticides, and other contaminants.

If you need to get rid of everything in the water (ie. toxins; heavy metals, etc.), distillation is the way to go.
There is a nifty one out there called "Survival Still" (Google is your friend).
I liked the idea a lot, the accompaning price tag not so much.
I instead studied the concept and I'm in the process of making my own DIY version from a large SS dogfood bowl.
It actually will closely resemble the original when done.
I will post pics when it is finished.
ATB, Pharaoh.

This might be a helpful resource from the CDC: A Guide to Drinking Water Treatment Technologies for Household Use

Based on that distillation sounds like a good bet and, depending on what you are planning to deal with, reverse osmosis might be okay and maybe nanofiltration too.

Careful with relying on distillation. Many toxic substances vaporize at a lower temp than water. If you distill, you better still use an appropriate filter medium, especially if you're working from flood water. Read the General Ecolgy test data. Based upon that data and some independent reviews, is why I chose such a cumbersome device as my backup.

Even with a well graduated condensation separator, there are some chemicals that condense at almost exactly the same temperature as water vapor.

Distillation isn't as straightforward as most think. In general, it is an effective desalination method.