There are a few types of water filters that work in different ways to make sure that the water you drink is clean. These water filters fall into two categories; physical and chemical. Read more about water filters and how they work below:

Physical water filters

Physical water filters remove impurities from the water by use of a physical barrier. The problem with this technique is that it does remove large particles from the water, but it does not remove the very small particles and chemicals, as the physical barrier would not be able to catch them. One type of water filter that falls into this category is the reverse osmosis filter. This type of filter makes use of a semipermeable membrane. The water is forced through this membrane to filter out impurities such as lead and mercury. However, it is not effective in removing chemicals such as chlorine from the water.

Chemical water filters

Chemical water filters use chemical reactions to remove the chemicals and small impurities from the water. This type of water filter is more effective than physical water filters. Ion exchange filters, steam distillation filters and activated carbon filters are all examples of chemical water filters. Activated carbon filters are the most used water filter. Charcoal, a form of carbon, is very porous. This quality allows it to trap contaminants in its internal surface area. The carbon also has a magnet-like effect on particles such as lead. The presence of chemicals in the water is reduced when the carbon first comes into contact with the water.