Are you frustrated with trying to find the perfect means of ridding your tap water of harmful contaminants? I know myself, living in a city where the quality of water is quite low to begin with I don't even want to think about what might be floating around in it.
Each year my local treatment facility releases a report on the "great quality" of the water it provides my community.
Also, the management company at my condominium complex has a reverse osmosis system installed under my kitchen sink.
However, there still seems to be quite a few problems with my tap and shower water.
I thought it might be in my best interest to investigate another type of water system to see if there was more I could do to make the water in my house healthier and more pure.
Since I already have this system in my home, I decided to first look at reverse osmosis systems and see what I actually have under my sink.
I figured if I could find out the facts about what this type of water filter achieved, I could then reassess my tap water and decide on the best type of filtration method for me.
My findings were awakening to say the least.
Reverse osmosis (RO) is best known for desalinating water (changing seawater into water you can drink).
RO is a process based on osmosis.
Basically, water is moved from one side of a membrane (think cellophane film) to another.
The contaminants contained are not pushed through this membrane as pressure is applied and "purified" water collects on the other side for use or storage.
It can reduce the amount of bacteria, particles, VOCs (volatile organic compounds) and SOCs (soluble organic compounds), but unfortunately eliminates the good minerals along with it.
Which down the line, can definitely cause health problems such as mineral absorption from teeth and bones and increased acidity/lowered pH levels which can wreak havoc on the body and possibly contribute to diseases.
Also, as the amount of contaminants increases, so does the pressure required to remove the extra concentrations of them.
Come to find out, RO treatment can reduce the amount of poor compounds contained in tap water but, it is incapable of efficiently removing all of them as the water's contaminant concentration increases.
Again unfortunately, it eliminates several essential minerals necessary for health and well-being (potassium, calcium and magnesium).
Surprisingly, I also discovered that even though this system type does take away a high percentage of toxins, the overall rejection percentage (or removal efficiency) does not always reach the minimum amount required by health department guidelines to qualify for drinkable tap water.
So I thought to myself, what is the system I already have, really accomplishing? Is my water really that consumable and safe? Some of the other disadvantages of RO include a large amount of wastewater generated in producing a small amount of purified water.
The amount of waste can be anywhere from 50-90 percent of water filtered into the system, leaving pure water recovery between 5 and 15%.
This means it would take about 40-90 gallons of waste water to produce 5 gallons of pure drinkable/usable water a day! While this unit can reduce the levels of some SOCs, pesticides and VOCs, this apparatus alone may not be the best solution for these types of toxins.
Reduce yes, eliminate no.
They can also be quite expensive overall as compared to other filtering systems.
So after looking into reverse osmosis systems, I found that my best choice wasn't actually the apparatus under my kitchen sink, but a comprehensive multi-stage type filter that would encompass several processes (carbon and sub-micron filtering as well as ion exchange) to make my tap water the purest possible, leaving it without toxins, while still maintaining the integrity of essential vitamins necessary for me to stay healthy.
So there you have it.
If you take the time to explore the clear advantage of a multi-stage filtration system over a reverse osmosis system as I did, I am certain you will find what I did.
This type of system will certainly purify your water, rendering it wholesome and healthy!