The Key Facts About Reverse Osmosis Water Filtering Systems

Reverse osmosis water filtering systems can be valuable for removing many water contaminants, including dissolved solids and arsenic.A reverse osmosis system works by forcing water through a semi-permeable membrane. Semi-permeable means that some molecules can pass through while others cannot. In theory, this forces clean water through the membrane, leaving all the contaminants behind. For most people and most circumstances, however, there are many better filters. A reverse osmosis water dispenser tends to be bulky, taking up a lot of cabinet space under the sink, even while sharply limiting your pure water supply. And that’s probably the least of its drawbacks.Here are the shortcomings of reverse osmosis water filtering systems:1. They remove important trace minerals from drinking water, leaving the water strangely “flat” and tasteless. Even more important: natural water always contains trace minerals, and dissolved trace minerals in drinking water are a valuable source of magnesium, calcium and other nutrients. Other types of water filter can do an outstanding job of purifying drinking water and still leave trace minerals intact.2. Reverse osmosis systems are extremely wasteful; all these systems waste much more water than they purify. The typical such filter creates three to five gallons of waste water for every gallon it filters.3. They are also extremely slow. A reverse osmosis water dispenser can never keep up with high demand. The tank typically holds 1.5 to 2.5 gallons. Once this water is used up, you’ll be out of pure water, probably till the following morning.4. Unlike faucet-mounted, counter top or carafe filters, they require plumbing modifications and should be installed by a professional. If modifying your plumbing and giving up cabinet space seems a reasonable tradeoff for an uncluttered kitchen counter and pure water, there are still lots of better choices.5. Finally, a reverse osmosis water dispenser must be sanitized periodically with chlorine — a chemical that is highly undesirable in drinking water, despite its nearly universal use by municipal water systems.For all these reasons, a reverse osmosis system is rarely your best choice for purifying your drinking water. There are highly effective water filters with none of these drawbacks.