The composition of raw water is naturally variable, but commonly contains one or more of the following significant contaminants, in the form of dissolved ions, particles and living organisms: Particles of clay and silt. Pathogenic bacteria, viruses, protozoa and their cysts.

Experts say raw water may contain minerals, but you can get the minerals you need from a healthy diet — and the risk of harmful bacteria, viruses and parasites is not worth any benefit from trace minerals.

Contaminated water can transmit diseases such diarrhoea, cholera, dysentery, typhoid, and polio. Contaminated drinking water is estimated to cause 485 000 diarrhoeal deaths each year.

Raw water must be treated or clarified prior to being used as makeup water in most utility processes. Clarification removes suspended and dissolved solids, bacteria, and other forms of impurities to help prevent system scale, corrosion, and fouling.

Filtration is a physical process that removes these impurities from water by percolating it downward through a layer or bed of porous, granular material such as sand. Suspended particles become trapped within the pore spaces of the filter media, which also remove harmful protozoa and natural colour.

Will a water filter remove bacteria? Only a reverse osmosis water filtration system will effectively remove harmful bacteria. The simplest way to remove harmful bacteria is to disinfect the water by chlorination or by ultraviolet radiation.

Do Water Filters like Brita Remove e-Coli? Some water filters will remove e-Coli, but mass market filters such as Brita and Zerowater WILL NOT remove e-Coli.

Yes, your old filter can add bacteria to your water Researchers concluded that the filter had a biofilm growing on it, and in some cases the bacteria colony counts in the filtered water was up to 10,000 times those in the tap water. Yikes.

Brita filtered water is not the same as distilled water. Distilled removes all the minerals, but Brita just filters it for taste and smell, removing chlorine by using a charcoal filter. Probably Brita filtered water would still cause the white mineral dust since minerals are still in the water.