Is the RO Water System Right for You?

Posted by Rolf Joho on February 27th, 2010 filed in What Causes Global Warming

A reverse osmosis water filter, or RO water system, can be an effective filtration device. The process uses pressure to force water through a membrane that retains contaminants on one side of the filter and allows the treated water to pass through to the other side. This process is more widely known for removing salt from sea water to get fresh water, also called desalination. RO is also used to purify fresh water for medical and industrial processes. Let’s take a closer look at the stages of RO filtration to give you an idea of whether it is right for your home.

A sediment pre-filter is used to extract larger contaminants like dirt, sand, dust, grit and rust particles from the water when present. An optional secondary carbon pre-filter is used to extract most of the organic chemicals and chlorine; providing enhanced taste and reduction of odor while helping to protect the reverse osmosis membrane, which can be vulnerable to chlorine.

A RO membrane is normally made from a thin film composite. An optional carbon post-filter is used to capture any chemicals that are still present. This step also helps guard against any tainting which might occur within the device’s water storage tank. Another option, an ultraviolet light (UV-C), is incorporated into the process to disinfect the water of any organisms that may have escaped the reverse osmosis membrane.

A RO water system can be bulky, which means it will take up a lot of cabinet space under or near the sink. Here are a few other shortcomings of reverse osmosis water filtering systems. Unlike faucet, countertop or carafe filters, reverse osmosis filters require plumbing modifications and need to be installed by a professional. If you don’t mind modifying your plumbing and giving up some cabinet space, then a RO filtering system may be the perfect choice for you.

A reverse osmosis water treatment system must occasionally be sanitized with chlorine, a chemical that is highly undesirable and which in many cases is filtered out by other systems. Though chlorine is nearly universally used by city and municipal water systems, it has been shown to cause cancer. Using it to clean the filter that you will use to filter out such things seems to be counter intuitive.

What types of contaminants does a RO water system filter? The contaminants it does filter include mercury, bromide, cadmium, chlorine, calcium, chloride, chromate, copper, cyanide, fluoride, iron, lead, magnesium, manganese and sulphate, to name a few. For all these many reasons, reverse osmosis water filtration systems are rarely your best or only choice for purifying water. There are other highly effective filtering systems without nearly as many drawbacks.

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Is your lunch causing global warming? Cars and factories are major sources of greenhouse gas emissions that are heating up the planet. But what you ... An article from: New York Times UpfrontThis digital document is an article from New York Times Upfront, published by Scholastic, Inc. on January 18, 2010. The length of the article is 1977 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Is your lunch causing global warming? Cars and factories are major sources of greenhouse gas emissions that are heating up the planet. But what you eat may have even more of an impact.(ENVIRONMENT)
Author: Elisabeth Rosenthal
Publication: New York Times Upfront (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 18, 2010
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
Volume: 142 Issue: 8 Page: 6(6)

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Have you ever wondered why so many people believe recent climate change is almost entirely the result of human activity, even when there's plenty of evidence to the contrary? It's because the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says so.

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