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Does a Brita filter remove lead?

Written and reviewed by the BWF Team, a certified water specialist, a former municipal plant operator, a licensed plumber and a former system dealer.

The Brita Elite does. The standard Brita filter does not. The Elite, model OB06, is certified against NSF/ANSI Standard 53 for lead reduction, and Brita publishes the numbers: 99.5% at pH 6.5, taking 150 parts per billion down to 5. The standard filter, model OB03, is certified against Standard 42, which covers chlorine, taste and odour. Lead is not among its claims. Both cartridges fit the same pitcher, and both are sold as certified.

Neither certificate is held with NSF. Brita certifies its consumer filters through WQA, and its PFOA and PFOS claim through IAPMO R&T, while NSF holds only their commercial Total360 and Pro lines. So the obvious check, searching NSF for your Brita pitcher, returns nothing and means nothing. There are four certifying bodies and reading one of them is how careful people reach the wrong answer.

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Lead lives in Standard 53

Every certification claim on a water filter is made against a numbered standard, and the number tells you what was actually tested. This matters more on lead than on anything else, because the two standards that appear on filter packaging cover completely different things.

StandardWhat it coversLead?
NSF/ANSI 42 Aesthetic effects: chlorine, taste, odour, particulates No
NSF/ANSI 53 Health effects: lead, cysts, volatile organic compounds, mercury Yes
NSF/ANSI 58 Reverse osmosis systems, tested as a whole system Usually
NSF/ANSI 401 Emerging compounds: pharmaceutical and pesticide residues No

A filter certified under Standard 42 alone is accurately described as certified, and it has no lead claim. That sentence is the whole of this page, and it is true of far more products than anyone expects. When we read NSF's listing for one large filter brand, 166 of their 272 certified refrigerator models held Standard 42 and nothing else. The full count is on our refrigerator filter page.

The two Brita filters

They fit the same pitchers, sit next to each other on the same shelf, and are certified for different things.

Filter Standards held Certified by Lead
Brita Elite (OB06) The blue cartridge, formerly sold as Longlast+ 42, 53 and 401 WQA, plus IAPMO R&T for PFOA/PFOS 99.5% at pH 6.5, 99.6% at pH 8.5
Brita Standard (OB03) The white cartridge, the one in most boxes 42 WQA Not among its certified claims

The Elite figures come from Brita's own Performance Data Sheet, which is the document a certification obliges them to publish: 150 parts per billion of lead going in, 5 parts per billion coming out, against a permitted maximum of 5. That is a real, tested, third-party-verified claim, and it is a good filter for the job.

The standard filter is not a worse version of it. It is certified for chlorine, taste and odour, which is what most people buy a pitcher for, and it costs less because it does less. The problem is only that the two boxes look alike and the word "certified" appears on both.

Why searching NSF tells you nothing

Anyone doing this properly would look the filter up rather than trust the box, and the obvious place to look is NSF, because "NSF certified" is the phrase on the packaging. Search their drinking water treatment unit listing for Brita and you get Total360 and Brita Pro systems, which are commercial units plumbed into a building. No pitcher. No faucet mount. Searching Clorox, who own Brita, returns nothing at all.

Neither absence means what it looks like. NSF writes the standards, and several other organisations are accredited to certify against them. Brita's pitchers are certified by WQA, and the PFOA and PFOS claim on the Elite is certified by IAPMO R&T. Three bodies, one brand, and the packaging says "certified to NSF/ANSI standards" throughout, which is accurate every time.

CertifierPublic databaseWorth knowing
NSF International info.nsf.org/Certified/DWTU The largest, and the one most people mean by "NSF certified"
WQA wqa.org Certifies the Brita and PUR consumer lines, among many others
IAPMO R&T pld.iapmo.org Certifies Waterdrop, and holds Brita’s PFOA and PFOS claim
CSA Group csagroup.org Common on products sold into both the US and Canada

So the rule is: find the certifier the manufacturer names, then search that body's database, and search the model number rather than the retail title. A filter sold as "Brita Elite Replacement Filter, 3 Pack" is listed as OB06, and nothing else will find it.

What actually removes lead

Four approaches carry lead claims, and they differ in how much water they treat rather than in how well they treat it.

Lead is a plumbing problem before it is a water problem. It rarely arrives from the treatment plant. It dissolves out of lead service lines, lead solder in copper joints, and brass fittings, on the way to your tap, which is why two houses on the same street can test differently and why the only reading that describes your water is one taken from your own tap.

Common questions

Does Brita filter lead?

The Brita Elite filter does, and the standard Brita filter does not. The Elite, model OB06, is certified against NSF/ANSI Standard 53 for lead reduction and Brita publishes the figures: 99.5% reduction at pH 6.5 and 99.6% at pH 8.5, taking 150 parts per billion down to 5. The standard filter, model OB03, is certified against Standard 42, which covers chlorine, taste and odour. Lead is not among its claims. Both cartridges fit the same pitchers.

Why can I not find my Brita filter in the NSF database?

Because Brita certifies its consumer filters through WQA rather than NSF. Searching NSF’s drinking water treatment unit listing for "Brita" on 5 August 2026 returned only Total360 and Brita Pro systems, which are their commercial lines. The pitcher is certified, just not by the body most people check first. This is the single most common way to reach a wrong conclusion about a filter.

Which NSF standard covers lead?

NSF/ANSI 53, the health effects standard. Standard 42 covers aesthetic effects, meaning chlorine, taste, odour and particulates, and a filter certified under 42 alone is accurately described as certified while having no lead claim at all. Reverse osmosis systems are certified under Standard 58 instead, which also carries lead as a named claim.

Is a filter certified for lead enough on its own?

For drinking and cooking water at one tap, yes, provided the cartridge is changed on schedule. A certified filter is tested at the end of its rated life, not when new, so the claim holds for the whole cycle if you replace it on time. What a pitcher or an under-sink unit cannot do is protect the rest of the house, and lead enters through the plumbing rather than the supply, so a whole house filter fitted at the main line sits upstream of the pipes that are usually the source.

How do I know if my water has lead in it?

You test it, because lead is invisible, tasteless and comes from the pipes between the main and the tap rather than from the treatment plant. Municipal suppliers publish an annual water quality report, but it describes water at the plant rather than at your kitchen. A certified laboratory test on a sample from your own tap is the only reading that describes your house.

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