What
is Reverse Osmosis?
How
is it Used For
Water Filtering?
Reverse Osmosis:
Reverse osmosis, or RO, is another separation process that makes use of a semi-
permeable membrane. This membrane lets particles of a certain size or smaller
through and keeps back larger particles.
Like distillation, some contaminants can make it
through the membrane just like water molecules, so a GAC filter is added at the
end of the process to capture these materials. RO systems also waste three to 10
gallons of water for every gallon produced. Also, like distillation, RO water is
essentially mineral-free which is not healthy to drink as a lifetime beverage.
Mineral supplements are always recommended to take if drinking RO water (as well
as distilled water). These supplements counterbalance the leaching effect of
drinking mineral-free, aggressive water.
However, unlike distillation, RO units leave the
water well-oxygenated so that the water taste is much closer to that of
"spring water." The distilled water always tastes flat and
"lifeless." In cases of extreme mineralization or high nitrate levels
in the water (agricultural areas), RO units are for the most part the systems of
choice.
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