Water is one of the few necessities of life. Americans may kid themselves into thinking that all sorts of things that are luxuries are vital to their quality of life, but there are only a handful of things that keep them alive. Water. Food. Shelter. Air. And unlike people in other countries who are just grateful to get the necessities, Americans are willing to pay large amounts of money for better versions of these necessities. They buy gourmet meals, live in huge mansions and even purchase air and water filters for their homes and offices to further purify their environment.

It can seem like overkill to those from lesser developed countries that water that is already purified by the city or county before being piped to a household is then put through another water filter system before being drunk, but it happens in millions of homes and businesses every day. Some people insist that they can taste a difference in water that has been further purified. Others have done tests of their taps to discover that impurities find their way into the water as it travels through old pipes and makes its way to their sinks.

Water filters, whether large or small, work on the principle of filtering out larger particles by passing it through a physical barrier, such as a carbon filter. They may also employ chemical or biological processes to purify the water to make it drinkable. Many systems, including those at most water treatment plants, actually combine the two processes, using filters and then chemicals to remove chlorine and other impurities.

The end result of all this filtering and purifiying is that Americans have arguably the cleanest drinking water in the world.