The earliest recorded attempts to purify water date back to 2000 BC, where early Sanskrit writings outlined methods for purifying water. Subsequently, Hippocrates, the father of medicine, designed his own crude water filter, a cloth sleeve, to purify the water he used for his patients. Centuries later, Sir Francis Bacon conducted experiments in sand filtration in 1627.

The need for water filtration only began to become seen as mandatory after the discovery of the microscope and the revelation that water can teem with bacteria and other organisms. In mid-19th century London, John Snow used a microscope to confirm the presence of cholera bacteria in the water. As a result, sand water filters had been installed throughout the city. This mandate was one of the first instances of government regulation of public water.

Slowly, over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries, the filtering of municipal water became more sophisticated. The use of chlorine in tap water was a particular breakthrough, resulting in the virtual elimination of such waterborne diseases as cholera, typhoid, and dysentery.

Chlorination has now been a major part of municipal water treatment for nearly 100 years. About 98% of municipal water treatment facilities now use chlorine disinfectant as their disinfectant of choice.

However, concerns over the effect of chlorine on the body (it has been linked to asthma and other respiratory diseases) and the increasingly polluted environment have led to a demand for filtration within the home. The Aqulic® shower filter is the latest of these, with cutting edge technology that makes sand filtration seem very primitive indeed!