The Disadvantages Of Reverse Osmosis Water Purifiers

The original home water filtration method was a reverse osmosis water purifier fitted to your water supply. In the years since this system was introduced, more effective and economical systems have become available and yet major players in the water industry continue to push the old system. This article looks at the disadvantages of reverse osmosis water filters.

Who Buys Them?

These outdated systems are still being promoted by water marketing companies that realize the profits to be made from these very expensive units that start at $10,000 each.

These systems are disproportionately expensive, starting in the region of $10,000 to supply and fit, let alone the annual running and maintenance costs. When there are systems a tenth of the price that will do a better job and have vastly reduced maintenance costs, how are people still persuaded to buy them? The answer lies in the big marketing bucks available to push this outdated product. These units cost a lot to purchase and install, making profits to large water companies lending their weight to them great; well worth their outlay financially to market hard.

The Waste

It is not easy for any salesman to hide the fact that gallon upon gallon of water using reverse osmosis is wasted, in order to produce just a few gallons suitable to drink.

For instance, between 40 and 90 gallons of water is wasted for every 5 gallons of purified water. That is an unacceptable and flagrant waste of this precious resource, especially galling as there are other systems that don't waste a drop! Indeed, some householders have had to upgrade their septic system in order to accommodate all this discarded water.

Power Bills

These systems take power to run, and given the waste water to drinkable water ratio, it is clear that they will be using electricity at a high rate. Not ideal given the increasing price of electricity, along with the higher impact on the environment.

So Does Reverse Osmosis Make Water Safe To Drink?

The big question! With all this power usage and waste-water sloshing around the system, does reverse osmosis make water safe to drink?

There is certainly no doubt that such systems will make the water safer for one to drink than if you were to leave it untreated, but the simple answer to the question posed above is no.

Other disadvantages of reverse osmosis systems are their removal of healthy minerals and failure to remove some of the harmful cysts and chemicals in the 'purified' water.

One manufacturer has freely admitted as much with a proviso that these kinds of units are only designed to clean up the water's aesthetic properties. They don't actually act as a way of preventing waterborne toxic and microbiological chemicals from getting into the supply.

Another smaller but nevertheless important of the many disadvantages of reverse osmosis filters is the removal of all the health-giving natural minerals found in water. All of these facts should point towards using a less expensive and more efficient way of providing pure water for your family.