When it comes to cleaning up salty, brackish, water from a well, or even water laced with a lot of iron, manganese, sulphur, etc., reverse osmosis reviews are very good. And, I would say well deserved. However, RO technology is costly and cumbersome to say the least, and, unless you have the salt water problem, there are now much better systems to use. Today we will do a reverse osmosis water treatment comparison with more modern technology.

In large areas of the U.S., people are dealing with brackish water, or water with high mineral content. I have been offered such water that I just could not drink due to the strong taste or smell. I have also tasted the water after it was filtered with a RO system and, although the owner’s though it tasted great, I always found it to be “stale” tasting.

Compared to the unfiltered water the stale water is much better, but it does point to another problem. The funky taste came from the lack of minerals in the filtered water because the RO system completely removed them. Minerals such as calcium and potassium give water its pleasant taste, and these minerals are essential to good health. But, water without any minerals is a little acidic and, if consumed, it will rob calcium from our bodies in order to get back to a neutral state. Those suffering from osteoporosis may want to consider mineral supplements if they are drinking water from a RO system.

Many experts in the areas of health and nutrition feel water stripped of minerals is unhealthy if used on a long-term basis, since cancer seems to only exist in environments which are acidic.

The RO filter consists of a semi-permeable membrane that filters out any matter larger than a water molecule. This is done by forcing the water through the membrane and sometimes, if there is not adequate water pressure, a booster pump may be needed.

Even with adequate pressure, however achieved, much of the water still will not pass through the membrane and, with many systems it becomes a costly waste byproduct.

Chlorine, a poison, is used to kill any bacteria in our well water, or our city water, and, since chlorine molecules are smaller than water’s, they will not be filtered out using a RO system. Neither will any of the thousands of synthetic organic chemicals that trouble our water supplies today. To remove these items, RO systems must be used together with carbon filtration.

Any filter system will somewhat reduce your water pressure, but, as you might expect, RO systems are very slow producers. In order to have an adequate supply of water for bathing or doing laundry you will need a storage tank complete with a diaphram to maintain pressure.

These units are bulky, comparatively, and with the extra pumps, storage tanks, etc., they generally will require the assistance of a plumber to install and, even then, will often lead to maintenance issues. These extra components also make them prone to higher initial costs and higher operating costs, which are two of the leading gripes that come up in reverse osmosis reviews.

Most of us get our chlorinated water from a water utility or a well that doesn’t have a salt water problem. If this is true for you, I would recommend you take a look at a selective filtration system, which is also called a mult-stage system.

These systems use a chemically charged resin which is blended with carbon and extruded into a solid block form. This combination produces an amazingly effective filter technology. In simple English, the bad water flows into the filter system from one end, using normal water pressure, and the carbon removes the bad taste, bad smells, chemicals and drugs. Then the resin, through an ion exchange process, filters out the heavy metals such as lead and mercury, but leaves the healthy minerals like calcium and potassium. After that, you get good, healthy water flowing from the other end of the system.

Good bye booster pumps, storage tanks, maintenance costs, operating costs and mineral supplements. Once connected to your water supply they do their thing, virtually maintenance free, giving you and your family great tasting, healthy water.

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