Concerned your tap water isn’t pure? Then PB Water Store is the place to go for a cure.

Located at 4450 Lamont St., environmentally conscious PB Water Store’s seven-step filtration process removes all chlorine, fluoride, and harmful bacteria to produce the ‘best’ tasting purified water in San Diego, claims the company’s website at pbwaterstore.com.

Purified water has been mechanically filtered or processed to remove all dissolved minerals and other impurities to make it more suitable for use.

Discussing the nature of the business, Paul A. who’s been at PB Water Store for a decade, pointed out it revolves around a reverse-osmosis purification system. “We take the tap water and we run it through our system and take everything (impurities) out of it,” he said.

Reverse osmosis is accomplished by water pressure pushing tap water through a semi-permeable membrane to remove dissolved inorganic solid contaminants making it roughly 90% to 99.99% pure.

PB Water Store was established in 2006 by Bruce and Terry Townsend, who had a dream to start a business together that sold the best-tasting water to a local community that they loved being a part of. Bruce died, and Terry, after 16 years at PB Water Store, retired handing the baton off to longtime customer Jose Santiago three years ago.

PB Water sells purified bottled drinking water, everything from one liter up to 5-gallon bottles, as well as crocks, stands, shower filters, alkaline water, and pure ice.

“We have a soap station now,” noted store manager Deborah Schultze about the changes since Townsend left. “It helps the environment. People can come in and bring their containers, or we have containers, where they can fill up.”

Customers continuously flow into PB Water filling containers from taps with purified water.

Schultze said PB Water also carries biodegradable laundry detergent, a plant-derived product that is toxin-, phosphate-, sulfate- and irritant-free with no animal testing involved in product development. “It’s also hypo-allergenic and dye- and perfume-free – pretty much everything-free” she quipped.

The store carries three different kinds of water: hydrogen-based alkaline water that has hydrogen bubbles in it used medicinally for things like acid indigestion; relatively new mineral water; and normal water with all impurities extracted containing no total dissolved solids (TDS).

The business also doubles as something of a mini art gallery. There is abstract artwork and jewelry displayed in-store crafted by Schultze. “People appreciate the look of the art being here for sure,” she said.

The building also boasts two prominent murals. One in the front is a fanciful depiction of PB’s Crystal Pier. A larger mural on the side of the building, next to a soap refill station, is a marine scene with a mermaid done by local tattooist and artist Beth Emmerich.

The store also sells its brand of T-shirts and hats.

“Everything in here is for sale,” noted Paul about the interior of the store filled with shelves of water bottles and other dispensers. He added, “A good chunk of this town comes to this store to get water, a substantial number – thousands of people.”

PB WATER STORE

Where: 4450 Lamont St.

Información: pbwaterstore.com, 858-246-7577.