Reverse Osmosis Home Water Systems - Should You Have One?

Home reverse osmosis systems are sold by companies with the claim that 99% of the dangerous contaminants are removed from your water.  That is not true.  Reverse osmosis systems do not and cannot remove chlorine and like chemicals from the water.  Additional steps must take place.

Home reverse osmosis systems only block things that are "heavier" than water or things that have a molecular structure larger than water.  We have seen individual bloggers and company websites making claims of better health using method.  But, the truth is that the only health benefit lies in the area of kidney dialysis.

This type of system is only needed if your water comes straight from a stream or river and then you will still need to use additional steps to make the water safe to drink.  Some sort of disinfection method, usually chlorine, needs to be used or bacteria that cause gastrointestinal illnesses will still be present.

We have seen people suggest home reverse osmosis systems to pregnant women.  That's scary.  Pregnant women need to avoid anything that could be contaminated with bacteria.  Water should be disinfected before consumption.  Even distillation would be better.  The suggestion that you can protect your health through reverse osmosis filtration is just not the whole story, because it alone does not make drinking water safe.

To repeat, home reverse osmosis systems are not the end all be all.  They are simply one step in the water purification process.  If your drinking water comes from a treatment facility, it has likely already undergone a similar process.

Home reverse osmosis systems are expensive and wasteful.  The best units waste 5 gallons of water for every one gallon that is filtered.

The water that comes out of home reverse osmosis systems is unnatural, so when it goes back into the environment, it changes the content and composition of the ground water.

There are many industrial applications for the system.  Since they de-mineralize water, it can be used for film processing and printing.  When treatment facilities need to desalinize or remove salt from ocean or brackish water, it is the system of choice.

We need those trace minerals that the system filters out.  The things that we do not need in our water are chemicals and chlorine.

It is not hard to see that reverse osmosis systems are not what is needed in most homes.  By installing the proper water purification system you can have better health. Choosing the right water filtration system may seem a little daunting at first.  But I found, after some research, a company that has a water filtration system that meets and exceeds the needs of what is needed to protect your family from unwanted contaminants in the tap water.