This was really interesting. Thank you OP!
If you're not in a position to watch the video, the tl;dw: is that plant xylem cell structure allows water to pass but is too small for bacteria to pass, creating not just a large particle filter but a bacterial filter as well. Note that viruses can also pass
There's lots more, he talks about a study on this, has the water tested for e-coli, and talks about some of the conditions that optimize this filtration method, asking other things. Go watch it if you can
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