Do Berkey Filters Remove Minerals?

No, and that's a good thing!

The filters in Berkey Water Systems, known as the Black Berkey Filter, removes sedimentary minerals but keeps beneficial (ionic) minerals. This is because the media formation of the filter elements doesn’t attract beneficial minerals. So minerals such as calcium, sodium, potassium and magnesium pass through the filter. Sedimentary minerals that are attracted to the filter media such as chloramine and chloride are removed from water along with heavy metals such as aluminum, cadmium, chromium and copper.

What are Good Minerals and Bad Minerals?

Good (ionic) minerals are important for proper body function. These types of minerals help you perform bodily tasks and drinking water is one of the best ways to attain these minerals. You can learn more about the positives of keeping ionic minerals in your body on the Black Berkey Filter FAQs.

Bad minerals, such as arsenic, aluminum and lead, get into drinking water through pollution and when they are ingested in large quantities, can be harmful to your body. While one hard mineral, chloride, is also an electrolyte, it is only beneficial in small amounts and in large amounts, it can cause dehydration and Hyperchloremia.

Thanks to the proprietary design of the Black Berkey Filter, more than 99% of aluminum, 99.6% of chloride and 99.9% of arsenic and lead are addressed.

How the Berkey Removes Bad Minerals and Leaves Good Minerals

The Black Berkey filter elements addresses bad minerals but leaves the good minerals in the water through a process called ion exchange. This process works just like magnets where opposite charges (negative and positive) attract and the same charges (negative and negative, positive and positive) reflect each other. The charges built within the Black Berkey filter elements attract bad minerals, but not good minerals, leaving behind the beneficial minerals in the water for you to drink.

This ion exchange process is unique because Black Berkey filters have minuscule pores within a complex model of over six media types. This makes it nearly impossible for contaminants to get through, so they get stuck in the filter. The Berkey system itself is a gravity flow system, which means it takes slightly longer for water to pass through because more contaminants are getting filtered out. So while other water filters may be quicker, they are likely not filtering as well as a Berkey.

 See for yourself how well Black Berkey filters work.