| It would be nice if we had an abundant, never-ending | | | | it comes to water filtration. These systems have |
| supply of clean drinking water. Unfortunately, that's | | | | two layers--one for filtering out harmful chemicals |
| not the case, especially with a growing world | | | | such as chlorine and pesticides, and the other for |
| population. | | | | restoring the pH balance back to water, making the |
| Increasingly, enhanced water filtration methods are | | | | water more natural tasting. These systems also allow |
| being utilized to filter water for the masses of people. | | | | for a proper balance of minerals in water by using an |
| Reverse osmosis is one of these technologies, yet its | | | | ion exchange system. These systems use carbon |
| effectiveness is questionable. Used in water filtration | | | | filters to remove harmful substances like chlorine. |
| plants, reverse osmosis systems have made their | | | | It's interesting to note that these carbon filtration |
| way to the consumer market over the past twenty | | | | systems are found in nearly every single fish tank, |
| years. | | | | since chlorine found in normal tap water is toxic to |
| The way it works is the opposite to the process of | | | | fish. Of course, the quantity of chlorine is normal tap |
| osmosis that we all learned about in high school. In | | | | water is too small to be toxic for humans. But it can |
| osmosis, fluid that is less concentrated is naturally | | | | cause minor problems, such as the skin dryness (think |
| drawn through a semipermeable membrane, to fluid | | | | of being in a swimming pool for a long time), aging, |
| that is more concentrated. This process continues | | | | and small ailments that could lead to bigger things |
| until both sides have equal concentrations. In reverse | | | | overtime. |
| osmosis, high pressure is used to force water | | | | Therefore, with a reverse osmosis system, you have |
| through the extremely small pores in the water filter | | | | an expensive, inefficient system that is difficult to |
| to obtain clean drinking water. Home filtration | | | | maintain, and removes valuable nutrients important to |
| systems often consume 4 gallons of water to | | | | the human body while allowing harmful chemicals such |
| produce 1 gallon of reverse-osmosis filtered drinking | | | | as chlorine and pesticides to pass through. Reverse |
| water. | | | | osmosis systems tend to block molecules heavier (i.e. |
| As you can see, reverse osmosis systems consume | | | | with a larger molecular structure) than water, while |
| a high quantity of water. They also consume time. It | | | | letting everything else pass through. Simply, it's a less |
| can take up to 3 hours to obtain one gallon of | | | | efficient, outdated system, and was never meant for |
| filtered water. Furthermore, it filters out many of the | | | | home use. |
| essential nutrients needed by the human body when | | | | Multi-filtration systems are the best performers |
| consuming water, producing de-mineralized water | | | | overall. Dollar for dollar, the are more economical than |
| with acidic pH. Reverse osmosis is often still used | | | | bottled water (and safer, since the bottled water |
| nowadays in municipal water filtration plants; | | | | industry isn't nearly as regulated as the home water |
| however, the effectiveness of home usage of | | | | filtration systems are in the United States and many |
| reverse osmosis systems is still questionable. | | | | other countries). Best of all, these systems often use |
| While any water filtration is better than none, | | | | dual carbon filters which are most effective at |
| reverse osmosis was invented in the 1970's purely | | | | blocking contaminants in our drinking water, whether |
| for industrial use, not to produce high quality drinking | | | | they be chlorine, or even pesticides and prescription |
| water. An adapter can be adapted to desalinize the | | | | drugs. |
| water. Otherwise, the technology does not deliver on | | | | For more information, feel free to visit my site |
| what it promises for residential use. | | | | below. |
| Multi-filtration systems are the most effective when | | | | |