The Downside of Reverse Osmosis Home Systems

Let's face it consuming pure water is the root of life itself. Our bodies are comprised of almost 70% water and need it for survival and proper body functioning. If you are currently consuming water straight from the tap, I regret to tell you that the glass you are drinking from is most definitely filled with contaminants and toxins of some sort if you are not filtering it before it hits the faucet.

Since I place great value in fitness, my health and longevity, I thought it would be in my best interest to seek out a water filtration system that I could easily install into my home. There are a number of diverse systems and devices available these days. Some of these include multi-stage, activated carbon, ultraviolet light and reverse osmosis home systems. Many of these only remove a specific type of toxin and may not remove others. It has been shown that the best systems incorporate multi-stage technology to get the best results.

After some research on my own behalf, I decided that the two types of systems I would feel comfortable comparing and making a final decision on would be the multi-stage and reverse osmosis water filtration devices.

I found that the RO system can be a semi-decent choice for home water purification. Normally, it is most recommended for communities with pre-treatment provided by a municipal water system. However, in recent years the use of man-made chemicals has risen to such high levels that often SOCs (soluble organic compounds) are found in most of the world's water supply along with VOCs (volatile organic compounds), agricultural runoff, viruses and bacteria. A report by the Ralph Nader Study Group had reviewed approximately 10,000 documents under the Freedom of Information Act and concluded that "U.S. drinking water contains more than 2,100 toxic chemicals that can cause cancer." Unbelievable, isn't it?

So if you truly ponder the idea of starting your purification process with a public water system that is substandard to begin with, what is really being removed from the water? Reverse osmosis home systems do not provide the perfect protection against all microorganisms such as bacteria and virus. Nor is it highly effective in removing organic compounds. So you may find that you have to combine an ultraviolet and activated carbon system with the RO filtration device in order to have a somewhat near perfect water purification system. This can get rather expensive if you have to purchase all this equipment separately.

Plus I had also discovered that reverse osmosis water was severely stripped of trace minerals which are vital to health and this issue alone has been widely known to contribute to degenerative diseases such as cancer. Cancer cells grow in an acid environment and when a filtration system renders its water without these necessary minerals, it is sure to be very acidic. The body needs to be slightly alkaline with minerals such as calcium, potassium and magnesium to maintain a proper balance.

Also took 5-10 gallons of water to produce one gallon of treated purified water. How wasteful!

In the end I found that a multi-stage type filter that combined the benefits of activated carbon with several more inclusions was the best choice in unit for me. The one I found also contained an ion exchange and a sub-micron pore structure to eliminate sediment, bacteria, viruses and cysts normally floating around in the tap water. I was nearly positive that if I selected this type of unit as opposed to looking into reverse osmosis home systems any further, that I was sure to get the purest water for my dollar in terms of initial purchase and overall maintenance costs.

So go ahead, compare for yourself. I am confident after completing your own research on a multi-media block filter for your tap as opposed to settling for reverse osmosis water, you will definitely find a better choice in terms of performance and value.