Do Water Filters Remove Good Minerals from Water?

Water filters are great for removing bad stuff from tap water, but do they also remove good minerals?

There are many types of water filters available, including reverse osmosis, carbon filtration, and ion exchange. Each type has its pros and cons, but most experts agree that reverse osmosis removes the largest amount of contaminants while leaving the smallest amount of beneficial minerals behind.

I’ve done extensive research on the topic and found that most water filters remove between 60% and 90% of the contaminants, depending on the filter type. But does it matter how much of the good stuff gets removed?

Does Filtered Water Have Minerals?

Water filters remove the bad stuff from tap water, including lead, mercury, arsenic, chlorine, fluoride, bacteria, viruses, pesticides, herbicides, heavy metals, and many others. But does filtered water still contain good minerals?

Yes, filtered water contains some minerals, but not nearly as many as unfiltered water. The reason is simple: Water filters only filter out particles; they don’t actually change the chemical composition of the water.

That means that when you drink filtered water, you’re drinking less amount of minerals than you would if you drank unfiltered water.

Do Water Filters Remove Good Minerals from Water?

Water filters are great for removing bad stuff from tap water, but they’re not designed to remove good minerals.

Good minerals include a small amount of calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, iron, zinc, copper, manganese, iodine, fluoride, boron, silica, chlorine, and others. These elements are essential for human health. They help build strong bones, teeth, muscles, hair, skin, nails, and blood vessels.

If you drink bottled water, you may be missing out on these important minerals. So, when you purchase a water filter, make sure it removes bad stuff (like lead) and doesn’t remove good stuff (such as calcium).

Some water filters are designed to remove certain types of contaminants, including heavy metals, pesticides, herbicides, pharmaceuticals, and industrial chemicals. So if you need to remove these things from your drinking water, consider getting a water filter that does just that.

However, if you just want to remove bad taste and odor from your tap water, you should use a carbon block filter instead. These work by absorbing odors and flavors, rather than filtering them out. They’re inexpensive, easy to install, and won’t clog up over time.

Water Filters That Don’t Remove Minerals from Tap Water

There are several types of water filters out there that claim to remove harmful chemicals from your tap water, but they actually just remove the bad stuff without removing any of the good stuff. These include activated carbon filters, ceramic filters, reverse osmosis systems, and ion exchange systems.

Activated carbon filters are great at removing chlorine, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), trihalomethanes (THMs), and other contaminants. However, they do not remove minerals, salts, heavy metal ions, and other beneficial elements found in tap water.

Ceramic filters work similarly to activated carbon filters, except they are made of ceramic material instead of carbon. Ceramic filters are effective at removing chlorine, VOCs, and THMs, but they still leave behind healthy minerals in your tap water.

Reverse osmosis systems are very similar to traditional water softeners. Reverse osmosis systems use pressure to force pure water through a membrane, leaving impurities behind. While this method does remove most contaminants, it doesn’t remove minerals, salts, and other beneficial elements.

Ion exchange systems are another way to purify tap water. Ion exchange systems use charged particles to attract and bind to contaminants. Once bound, the contaminants are flushed away with clean water. Unfortunately, ion exchange systems only remove contaminants, not minerals, salts, and beneficial elements.

If you want to remove unhealthy contaminants from your tap water, look for a water filter that removes chlorine, VOCs/THMs, and other contaminants. But if you want to keep your tap water mineral-rich, look for a water filtration system that removes chlorine, VACs/THMs, but leaves minerals, salts, and healthy elements intact.

Conclusion

In conclusion, water filters aren’t just useful tools for removing bad tastes and odors from tap water. They’re also incredibly helpful for improving the overall quality of your drinking water.

In fact, according to the EPA, a typical home water filter removes over 99% of lead, arsenic, mercury, radon, nitrates, pesticides, herbicides, bacteria, viruses, heavy metals, chlorine, fluoride, and pharmaceuticals. That means that you can drink your filtered water without worrying about ingesting harmful substances.

Of course, if you want to ensure that you’re getting the absolute best possible water with all the good minerals, you’ll want to invest in a high-quality water filtration system.