Do Brita Filters Work? What They Remove (And What They Don't)

Are Brita Filters Safe? 4 Things Your Brita Pitcher Is Failing At.

Whether you're just trying to avoid bacteria in your tap water or you're optimizing your hydration for performance and longevity, understanding what your Brita actually does (and doesn't do) is step one.

Most people swear by their Brita Filters ("bad" or "good"), and they are an industry standard for the very baseline of water purification, and while most people you know may use one, it might not be the best water filter for your own home. Most Americans, though, consider a Brita filter to be incredibly safe, which is a position Brita reinforces with very specific language.

To put it bluntly, Brita filters are mostly cosmetic. Since they deal mostly in surface-level odor and taste, and not in eliminating all of the actual toxins, Brita Filters are, for all intents and purposes, the Febreze of water purification. Your guests won't know the difference, but their bodies will, and so will yours.

In order to help you arm yourself with the most knowledge that you can about America's #1 water purifier, here are some ways and reasons that your Brita filter isn't really all that it's cracked up to be. Brita fails where a lot of other filtration devices flourish, because not only in water content, but also in maintenance, Brita filters are costly, needy kitchen appliances that could, and should be doing a lot more for you.

Do Brita filters work? The answer is yes, for everything that the company says they do, but the reasons why Brita filters are kinda bad lie in everything that they're not telling you.

1. Most Brita Filters Don't Get Rid Of Lead & Fluoride In Water

Now, most U.S. cities aren't facing a lead poisoning problem, but depending on your part of the country, you may need some real filtration in your life. Brita is not your company for that.

Here is what Brita's own data shows — notice that their most important contaminant reductions require their most expensive filter upgrades:

2. Brita Filters Get Rid Of Chlorine, Mostly

As we said at the top of this article, Brita filters usually get rid of, mostly, Chlorine. We've become accustomed to our water tasting like almost absolutely nothing these days, and the more tasteless it is, the more "pure" it is, right? Well, not really. Chlorine, in the quantities where it appears in your average American tap water, isn't actually all that bad for you. In fact, Chlorine is simply a gas that can actually evaporate completely if you just fill up a run-of-the-mill pitcher and leave it in your fridge for about a day. Once the chlorine is out of the water, Brita filters are generally not really doing too much heavy lifting from there on out.

3. Brita Filters Don't Eliminate Bacteria, Fungus, Or Viruses

When we think our water has been "purified," it really, most likely, has just been stripped of Chlorine, like we just learned. But most people also assume that they're going to get pure, flavorless water. While most filtration processes do get rid of some nutrients that are actually very good for you, they tend to leave in more dangerous particles, which include bacteria, fungus, or viruses. So while it may be easy to think that if, for example, your water is contaminated in some way, that "the Brita will fix it," then that is simply not true. Only a process that purifies everything in the water will do that, and that's why you're better off putting in a little bit of time and effort to fix the water problem in your household.

This leaves you open to these contaminants, which can be potentially concerning. Here are just a few:

In a study conducted on a Brita filter using average U.S. tap water, the resulting "filtered" water contained significantly more bacteria than average U.S. tap water with no Brita filter at all. While your Brita filter does make your water taste better, it may be doing you a disservice if you're not changing your filter on schedule.

4. If You Don't Change Your Brita Filter, It's Actually Way Worse For You Than Tap Water

So much worse. These filters get really, really disgusting. Every bacteria, chemical, mineral, and toxin that can potentially be found in water isn't being filtered out by your Brita filter, so if you do choose to have one, please, for your health, change it every 40 gallons, which should be approximately every 8 weeks if you live alone, at least once per month if you have a family, and once a month if you live with a significant other.

Also, just think of the bacteria, toxin, and potential mold that can grow on an unchanged Brita filter.

Brita filters do a great job of preserving the "pure" water taste we've become accustomed to, but they do very little, relatively speaking, to actually protect you from harm. Spend even half an hour researching proper filtration for your home. You can use that same amount of time to make sure the water you're using, drinking, and showering with isn't going to affect your overall health in the long run.

So, What's Better Than a Brita?

That depends on your situation. Here's how to figure it out:

If You Rent

Start with a shower filter (your skin and hair will thank you) and a Zero Water pitcher for daily drinking water. The Zero Water pitcher uses a 5-stage ion exchange system that removes 99.6% of dissolved solids — leagues beyond what Brita can do. No installation, no landlord approval needed, and you can take them with you when you move.

If You Own and Want Clean Drinking Water

A reverse osmosis system is the gold standard — it removes everything a Brita misses (and then some). The Puronics MicroMax 8500 fits right under your kitchen sink and is NSF-certified to remove contaminants at the molecular level. For the complete setup, pair it with remineralization and structured water technology.

If You Want to Filter Your Whole House

Let's talk. Whole-home systems are customized based on your water source, family size, and local contaminants. We'll walk you through exactly what makes sense for your home.

At GoodFor, we believe your water should do more than just taste clean — it should support your health at the cellular level. But that doesn't mean you need a $10,000 system. Let's figure out what actually makes sense for where you are.