Dirt?in the water

I have a house that was built in 1965, a ranch style home. I have two large Maple trees in the front yard. OK, when I use the kitchen faucet to fill a pitcher with a water filter in it, a Brita setup, there are several black specs, dirt?, remaining in the bottom. Is it dirt that has gotten into the water line?

Do the specs smear or stay hard? Could be a seat washer slowly deteriorating, could be debri stuck in the aerator of the faucet/brita assembly, could be that the water heater needs draining of sediment as your faucet can hold residual hot water during the switchover to cold to use the filter.

I checked and cleaned the aerator. The hot water heater is a good lead. how else could dirt get in the water line and not cause the water bill to jump.

Construction projects in the area.

If your water line was leaking, water would be leaking out and would keep dirt from entering.

carbon particles

Hey there. The brita uses activated carbon to "cleanse" the water. Sometimes you get little specks of carbon from the filter in the top part of the pitcher. (If it's a faulty filter you may get them in the bottom part of your pitcher.) Use the first two pitchers of filtered water (with a new filter) to water your plants. It is safe to drink though it looks a little grey.

Try filling up the pitcher with water without the filter and see what you get!

Hope this helps