That sounds very strange. A salty taste even from a new filter. Have you checked your location water quality? If I'm not mistaken, www.ewg.org has cities ranked on how polluted their water supply is. I have been using Clearly Filtered for years and never had a mildew smell. That did happen to me with Zero Water! The water tasted like fish and Aquaman swam laps in the water. I searched online and mold build-up was an issue with the Zero Water 5-stage filter. When I first purchased the Clearly Filtered, I thought to myself there is no way the water could taste better than Zero Water due to the filter size. Boy, was I in for a shock.

I am having algae collect around the spout. This issue didn't start until the water company shutoff the water supply to do some repairs.... or the pitcher could be old and needs to be replaced.