Although this site is about reviewing the best osmosis systems for the home, a relevant question to ask is whether a RO unit is really the best kind of water filter for the home. I have seen articles saying this is not the case due to a number of reasons. After looking these reasons, I thought they are not really valid and want to pose my counter arguments to these reasons.
#1: Water from reverse osmosis is not healthy for consumption in the long run
This is the most common reason I have seen cited for not encouraging the use of RO units in home. The argument is that reverse osmosis strips out the necessary minerals that are critical for our well being and are something we usually only consumer from our water.
I agree with this point fully and is the reason why I insist on buying a reverse osmosis system with a remineralization function. This additional function will care the necessary minerals back into our filter water, making it perfectly healthy for long term consumption. If you already own a RO unit that doesn’t have the remineralization function, you can buy this: one of the best remineralization filter in the market today.
Given that this lack of minerals can be easily remedied, it shouldn’t distract you from buying a home reverse osmosis system.
#2: Complicated to set up
Another big complaint I have heard about using RO units at home is the difficulty of setting up the system. I fully agreed as I did have some hard time installing all of the piping, storage tank, booster pump etc. However, I don’t think this is a reason to no having a reverse osmosis system at home since you just need to hire a professional plumber to do the job for you. Since it is just a one time expense, I don’t think this will impose a heavy burden on anyone.
#3: Waste water
The downside of a RO system is the amount of water it needs. Usually, most systems have a waste water to clean water ratio of 3:1 i.e. for a galleon of filtered water, 3 galleons will be wasted. This is the cost of having clean water with a TDM of less than 10 PPS.
Fortunately, there is one way to remedy the wastage and that is to use a zero waste reverse osmosis retrofit kit. Such kits help to channel the waste water into the heating element for your home’s water supply to reused. Again, this is not easy to set up but a plump can do the job for you.
#4: Cannot remove all unwanted minerals
The final attack against reverse osmosis system is that they can’t remove all minerals. Actually, this can be said for all water filters. There is no on system in the market that can remove every single unwanted element in the water. However, if we are comparing system for system, a reverse osmosis system is by far the most effective. Which other water filter system can reduce the water’s TDM to less than 10 PPM?
Conclusion
Despite all these negative comments about a home reverse osmosis system, I still firmly stand by them. Why? They produce the cleanest way and that is something I want for my family. This is especially so given that most of these comments can be easily remedied such that the problems are removed. I believe that clean water is very important to our health so only using the best water filter system for the home can satisfy my demand.