RO is a term used in the water filtering industry, and it simply means reverse osmosis. Water first goes through a sediment filter to remove any larger particles. It’s hard to make great water with bad water, so the purpose of this step is to remove sediment or debris. From there, the water is forced through a reverse osmosis membrane, which is really just a plastic product. Anything left in the water will get caught within that membrane. It filters the water down to .002 micron, which is phenomenally small. Just to put that number into perspective, the naked eye can’t see anything smaller than a 20 micron particle.
Some water is also used to wash the contaminants off of the outside of the membrane. After going through the second stage, the clean water goes into a polishing filter, which is typically made of carbon. It helps to refine the smell and taste of the water. Then it goes into the fourth stage, which is an even finer polishing using an inline filter. (It’s very similar to the filter you would find in your refrigerator.) This very fine filtration can remove harmful things like arsenic, lead, or nitrates.
Why should you care? Sometimes people get a kick on thinking that it’s not as healthy if all the minerals are removed from the water. I’ll have to ask a question right back: why do we drink water? I’m not an expert/doctor, but the best that I can tell through my research is that we drink water to flush our systems. We don’t drink water to get minerals—we eat food and we take supplements to get minerals. If we drink water to flush our systems, pure water is going to do the best job.
One of the other benefits of reverse osmosis is great tasting drinks. Why does Starbucks coffee taste so good, and why is it that you can’t seem to recreate it in your home? Normally, it’s because most drink manufacturers and specialty shops (like soda, tea, coffee, etc.) understand that a great tasting drink starts with great water. Reverse osmosis is an ideal product to get you there. If you enjoy, coffee, tea, or even if you have an at-home brewery, you definitely need to pay attention to the quality of the water you’re using.
Reverse osmosis is the most effective way to make sure you’re not consuming harmful materials. If you have any questions about how to improve the quality of your water, contact us online or give us a call at 540-483-9382.
