Now things get cloak-and-dagger. Stage two is the carbon filter, a porous black block that acts like a chemical sponge. It yanks out the chlorine (which makes your water smell like a public pool), the pesticides, and that vague “medicine cabinet” aftertaste.
You know that weird smell when you open a fresh bottle of bleach? Yeah, that’s chlorine. This filter removes up to 97% of it by the time the water leaves this stage. Your water will go from “eh, I guess I’ll drink it” to “whoa, is this from a mountain spring?” in a matter of seconds.
