This paper presents a study on adsorption of organic pollutants present in natural water on powdered activated carbon (PAC). Surface water was treated for municipal purposes at a water treatment plant. Currently used technological systems poorly utilize PAC adsorption capacity due to a small driving force of a mass exchange between water and sorbent. Additionally, the adsorption process takes place in volume systems with simultaneous coagulation. The authors proposed a new method where adsorption was carried out in a filter bed with PAC applied to its upper layer. The powdered sorbent was applied to the bed at the end of backwashing. This way an extended contact time between water and PAC was assured, which enhanced utilization of carbon sorption capacity. Comparative studies were also performed with adsorption in a volume system. The results confirmed that the filter bed showed a better utilization of PAC adsorption capacity than the volume system. The authors developed the PAC adsorption models in unsteady states for both volume and filter systems. Simulations confirmed that a utilization rate of PAC adsorption capacity in the filter can be several times higher than in volume systems that are commonly used for adsorption and coagulation.