The Danger of Using Reverse Osmosis Filters For Pure Drinking Water

The reverse osmosis water filter was an amazing invention. The majority of the water on this planet is salt-water, undrinkable. The correct reverse osmosis filter can remove the salt and make it drinkable.

That being said, reverse osmosis filters have been touted as the best purification system for home use and that is simply not true. If your source is dirty, salty or full of debris, then that may be the case, but, on its own, a reverse osmosis water filter does not make it safe to drink. Additional steps are needed to accomplish that task.

Let's look at how the reverse osmosis filter works:

A liquid under high pressure is forced through a porous membrane. Anything heavier or molecularly larger than the liquid is removed. Anything smaller or lighter passes through with the liquid.

Reverse osmosis filters are used in kidney dialysis machines to clean the blood. They are good at de-mineralizing for industrial applications that require it to prevent equipment corrosion and wear. And, as mentioned they can remove salt, which is heavier and molecularly denser or larger. Those things are great, but not enough to purify.

In order to purify, a reverse osmosis water filter must be followed by disinfection, carbon filtration and re-mineralization. You probably recognize that drinking bacteria filled water is unhealthy. It typically causes gastrointestinal illnesses, similar to the stomach flu. In most cases chlorine or some other chemical is used to kill bacteria.

Carbon filtration is necessary to remove the chlorine and other chemical contaminants. More than 2400 have been found in ground-water. All of them cause cancer. So, activated carbon granules are a step that cannot be skipped.

Re-mineralization is only necessary when a reverse osmosis filter or distillation is used. Drinking de-mineralized causes digestive disorders and is bad for your health. So, the "re" mineralization step is necessary to make the fluids healthy.

A reverse osmosis water filter for the home costs at least $10,000. It takes a long time to clean even a gallon of water. For every gallon that it cleans, as many as five become waste-water. Some people use the wastewater for plants or irrigation purposes, but most people realize that it isn't even good for the garden.

A reverse osmosis filter is easily torn and requires a lot of maintenance. They are prone to manufacturing defects, so they may not even do the job that they are supposed to do.

Reverse osmosis filters require electricity to work properly. It is needed to pressurize and pump. Thus, it increases electricity bills and adds to the natural resources used.

All in all, you may see that while a reverse osmosis water filter is great for some purposes, it is not the best choice for most of us. Treatment facilities make sure that what comes out of our tap is clear and bacteria free. We have to worry about chemicals, drugs, hormones, weed killers, bug sprays and other chemicals that a reverse osmosis filter will not remove. Those are the facts. The choice is yours.