Brita Filters For Well Water: Good or Bad?

Brita filters can make well water taste better but will not make it safe to drink and do not remove many harmful contaminants.

Brita is a household name when it comes to water filtration. However, if you are considering using a Brita filter for your well water and want to know if they are any good, then you’ve come to the right place. Well water needs to be filtered properly and, in this post, I’ll detail if Brita filters are good enough.

In this post we’ll discuss different types of Brita filters and what they can and cannot remove from water, including specific contaminants you typically get in well water such as arsenic. We also discuss if Brita will make well water safe to drink, what causes well water to have different tastes and smells. We also compare the Brita Standard and Brita Elite^TM filters and what they can remove from water.

Table of Contents

Is a Brita filter good for well water?

If you are one of the 15% of Americans (Ref 1) or 8% of Canadians (Ref 2) that use well water, you need to ensure the water filter you are using will make it safe to drink. Well water is not always pure or clean and can contain many contaminants that can be harmful to you and your family.

Image courtesy of U.S. Geological Survey (Ref 1)

Brita are a common brand of filters that people have come to trust. Brita products are also relatively cheap compared to some of their competitors. But does this mean they are any good for well water?

Will a Brita filter make well water safe to drink?

Safe drinking water in the U.S. is defined by the EPA in the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), which covers water used for drinking, cooking and personal hygiene. However, private wells that service less than 25 people are not regulated by the SDWA.

This means it is up to you to regularly monitor the microbial and chemical contaminant levels in your well water to make sure it remains safe.

Brita filters remove many harmful contaminants, but unfortunately, they cannot be relied upon as the primary filter to make your well water safe to drink.

Brita Standard v’s Brita Elite filters

By far and away the Brita Elite^TM filter will remove more contaminants compared to the Brita Standard filter, including:

Lead
Benzene
Asbestos
Class I particulates

Both the Brita Standard and Elite^TM filters remove:

Mercury, and Cadmium

The Standard filter also removes

Copper
Zinc

All of these contaminants can be found in groundwater. You really don’t want to be drinking any of them at high concentrations. Copper and zinc are the only ones that are good for you at relatively low concentrations.

Nonetheless, if I had to choose between the Brita Standard or Elite^TM filter (previously called Longlast) for my well water, I would definitely pick the Elite^TM.

However, the Elite^TM filter not quite as good as the Brita Faucet mounted filter when it comes to contaminant removal (even though the Brita Faucet filter does not remove mercury or cadmium).

Does Brita make well water taste better

There a several things in well water than can make it taste bad.

Below you’ll find some of the most common taste complaints people have around well water and what causes them.

Taste	Cause
Smooth	Calcium
Bitter	Magnesium
	Iron
	Copper
Salty	Sodium
Rotten egg (sulfur)	Hydrogen sulfide produced by sulfur-reducing bacteria
Chlorine	Chlorine (naturally found in groundwater)
Metallic	Zinc
	Iron
	Manganese
	Copper
Earthy or Moldy	Algae
Medicinal	Copper
Sweet	Lead
Oily	Sulfur-reducing bacteria
	Oil
	Gasoline
	Dead animal

What Brita filters can and cannot remove from water

Chlorine

All Brita filters will remove chlorine. Chlorine occurs naturally in groundwater and many people also disinfect their well water with chlorine before drinking it.

Chlorine can affect the taste and odor of the well water. Well water with as little as 1mg/L (or 1ppm, or 0.0000083lb/gal) of chlorine can give the water a bad taste or smell (like a chlorinated swimming pool).

1, 2, 4 – Trichlorobenzene

The Brita Stream® and Faucet filters remove 1, 2, 4 – Trichlorobenzene, which is an industrial solvent. If you’ve ever heard of benzenes before, you’ll know they have been associated with causing cancer. The Trichloro part refers to three chlorine atoms that are attached to the benzene. Basically, you will only get Trichlorobenzenes in a domestic well from an above ground contaminated source leaching into the groundwater – possibly not something you have to worry about in your area.

Particulates

Private or domestic wells are often high in particulate matter. Particulates are anything that is not dissolved and include some minerals, salts and metals. Particulates travel (as suspended sediments) in water and can give your drinking water a bad taste or texture.

Depending on the particulate size, many can be removed by Brita filters.

Remembering that the Elite^TM and Faucet filters carry the smallest micron rating (Class I: 0.5 – 1.0 microns). They will be superior at improving the taste of your well water compared to the Stream® or Bottle filters that only remove the larger particulates (Class VI: greater than 50 microns).

The Brita Standard filter does not carry a rating for particulate removal.

Other contaminants

The Faucet filter is the only Brita filter that removes:

Trihalomethanes (TTHMs) – found as solvent or refrigerant that are often carcinogenic
Atrazine – common herbicide
Lindane – typically used as an agricultural insecticide
Trichloroethylene (TCE) – type of solvent
Giardia – microscopic parasite

Any of these contaminants can be found in your well water. They are not typically found naturally in groundwater and are usually associated with a man-made contaminant source. But of course, there are a few exceptions:

Trihalomethanes

Trihalomethanes do occur in nature. However, high concentrations of trihalomethanes occur as a result of the chlorine disinfection process used for municipal drinking water.

Giardia

Giardia can come from animal waste (including humans). However, if it’s detected in your private well water then it most likely came from a contaminant source such as a broken sewer line, sewage overflow or from agricultural runoff (Ref 3).

Bacteria

Brita filters do not remove bacteria. In fact, there are no filters that can remove bacteria, but there are a few purification systems that can kill them.

Protozoa and Cysts

The Faucet filter is the only Brita Filter capable of removing protozoa, such as Giardia. The Faucet filter can filter things 0.5 – 1.0 microns in size – small enough for removing Giardia and cysts.

Viruses

Brita filters do not remove viruses.

Do Brita filters filter out arsenic?

Brita filters DO NOT filter arsenic.

Arsenic is a contaminant that is of greatest concern for residents with private wells in the U.S.

Arsenic can come from natural sources such as erosion of natural deposits and from runoff from man-made sources (Ref 4), including:

Glass, paints, dyes, metals, soaps, and drug productions
Electronics and semi-conductor production
Pesticides (such as chromated arsenicals used in wood preservation)
Agricultural farmland (e.g. orchards)
Mining or smelting

Arsenic in drinking water should be no higher than 10 parts per billion (ppb). This is equivalent to an Olympic sized swimming pool containing just 2 drops of arsenic! This standard is set by the EPA, although ideally you should aim for arsenic contaminant level of 0 ppb.

Also Read:

Water filter pitchers remove the most arsenic here.

Removal of arsenic from drinking water

According to the CDC (Ref 5), effective removal of arsenic from private well water can be achieved through:

Reverse osmosis
Ultra-filtration
Distillation, or
Ion exchange

Summary

If you are using a Brita filter to make your water taste better and to remove contaminants, make sure you replace your filter early and often! The level of contaminants in private wells can vary GREATLY depending on where you live.

If contaminant concentrations are high in your well water, the lifespan of your Brita water filters will be quickly reduced, possibly putting the health of you and your family at risk.

Overall, I would put the faucet mounted filter ahead of all the other Brita filters as it can remove the highest number and type of contaminants compared to the others.

If you use a pitcher or dispenser, then the Longlife filter is the better option over the Standard filter in the Brita range.

However, after going through all the stats in the Brita range, they are not my first choice. If you want the BEST water filter pitcher for well water, then I’d highly recommend you check out the EpicWater Nano.