Is Reverse Osmosis The Best Home Water Filter?
What do you think about reverse osmosis? Probably not much, at least not until someone suggests you use a Water Filter For Home. At this point, we’d like to warn you that it may not be in your best interest to take all this hype as crystal clear truth.
It is worth remembering that among the various methods used to purify drinking water and water for personal consumption, reverse osmosis is mentioned as one of the available options. It is a separation process in which pressure is used to push a solution through a semi-permeable membrane with a very fine pore structure, the purpose of which is to trap contaminants on one side and allow the purified solvent, in this case water, to pass through to the other side.
Although reverse osmosis can be effective in some industrial processes requiring demineralized water, it is far from ideal for domestic water treatment systems.
Although the health value of desalinated water compared to filtered water containing beneficial minerals is still debated, it seems certain that naturally balanced drinking water contains all the ingredients necessary for human well-being and is therefore healthier. The pore size of the membranes used in reverse osmosis is such that it allows for the removal of contaminants based on their molecular size. Synthetic chemicals such as herbicides and pesticides, which have a smaller molecular size than water, cannot be removed by reverse osmosis.
Therefore, for the reverse osmosis system to be effective, it must be supplemented with a carbon filter and possibly a UV lamp to disinfect (kill) microbes that pass through the membrane barrier.
The part of the water that is enriched with pollutants (two to three times the amount of treated water extracted) must be disposed of at considerable cost. Given current and future global problems with freshwater availability, this can quickly become an unacceptable waste.
It is one thing to send some of the water from onshore desalination plants back to the sea and quite another to throw all the remaining water that we pay for, but which is not suitable for drinking, down the drain (unless it is collected separately for toilet flushing, car washing and, if possible, for garden use). Note that the process is slow, so a tank is required to collect the treated product before use.
In addition, the significant energy input required pressurizing the contaminated water and the maintenance and replacement costs required mean that the estimated cost of this treatment per volume of treated water is more than double that of alternative filtration systems.
It is therefore recommended that you should be skeptical about the superior performance of reverse osmosis water filters for domestic installations and consider more suitable alternatives.
Elia E. Levy is a retired engineer
Having researched the topic of drinking water quality and residential water filters and purifiers, he has created a website where he presents the results of his research for all to review and draw their own conclusions.
For more information on these topics, visit waterlogic.pk’s home water purifier page.
