white floaty stuff when you boil water

It could also be magnesium or lime. But they aren't a danger to your health. As said above they don't evaporate. You'll probably also have problems with them when cleaning as they tend to form a white scale on water faucets, glass shower doors and those types of places.

Just minerals and people pay good money for bottled mineral water.

You've got hard water! We did, too, and installed a water softener. Makes a big difference.

Depends on the minerals. I have zero luck with this method. I only use vinegar to clean in the kitchen, etc. other than bleach after raw meat. The hard water laughs at me.  

If you are concerned about your pipes (lead would be the only concern really) - just let your water fun for a few seconds, especially the first draw of the day. That will flush the pipes - and any water you use will be fresh.

If you were really concerned about your water - have it tested at an independent lab (NOT by someone who wants to sell you a water treatment system) If you were concerned about lead, you would fill the test sample bottle with the first draw of the day, to see if any lead was in it. The lead would most likly come from lead solder that joined pipes. Again - letting your water run for just a little bit will totally eliminate it.

If you get a traditional water softener, it will remove the calcium and magnesium. The water goes into the softener and the resin beads in the sealed tank of the softener have the opposite electrical charge of the calcium and magnesium particles in your water, so it removes them from your water. The salt in the softener is used to regenerate the resin beads (it removes the calcium and magnesium and flushes it out the system).

Softened water will clean better, your wash will not get so dingy. I use "rust remover" softener salt because of the type of water we have here.

Most of my house is hooked to the soft water system. I do have a separate tap at my Kitchen sink for hard water. I prefer to drink that because it tastes better. I do have soft water to my fridge, but I still double filter it.

Lead pipes are typically noted during a home inspection- at least that's the norm here.

Ah...I'm sorry, I somehow missed that.

Other than that, I really have nothing to offer...I have decent water, no white floaty things. I drink the tap water (from the kitchen or bathroom   ) and probably am WAYYYYY overdue to change the filter for the water thing in the refrigerator door.

Fat lot of good I am. 

A Brita filter isn't made to filter out minerals. A filter one would help catch microbes that may or may not be treated for in your city. Everything has a risk, and water safety is always somewhat of a risk just due to the fact that we cannot possibly remove *everything* without great expense. It's always a trade off. The difference is that water testing is more stringent at water treatment facilities because it is overseen by the EPA, while bottled water is tested by the FDA (and it is not tested nor is it regulated). The FDA is reactive to contaminated bottled water. If you get your bottled water from a spring it's less likely to have been monitored than if it is bottled by someone like Coke, who just uses filtered local municipal water sources. You really have to look at where your water is coming from etc. and make the best choice for you and your family. 

Yes it does.

It is a combination of resin particles and activated charcoal - so, by ion exchange, it does remove the calcium and magnesium.

I prefer to not filter those out for my drinking water - but it does make a significant difference in coffee makers, etc. It will greatly lengthen the life of them and reduce the need to descale them. Vinegar really doesn't do much for descaling Keurigs - you need to use something stronger. Then you need to make sure you have that completely rinsed out of the machine - so you are far better off not using hard water, but filtering it first through a Brita. Makes a world of difference.

Interesting. I'm looking at it, but I'm not finding anything conclusive. Even at the Brita website. It seems to be controversial. LOL.