How Does Reverse Osmosis Work?

You may have been wondering, how does reverse osmosis work to obtain clean drinking water? The water passes through a pre-filter to remove sediment and larger particles. It is then forced through a membrane that is designed to allow it to pass through, while keeping pollutants contained on the other side of the membrane. The contaminants are sent down the drain with the wastewater. You need to have decent water pressure in your house for the treatment system to work effectively.

Reverse osmosis is the most effective of all drinking water treatments systems. Each type of filtering system removes specific contaminants. RO systems remove a wider variety of pollutants than other methods. These filters use a porous membrane to strain very fine particles. The number of chemicals, microorganisms and pollutants removed by this process is large. These systems work effectively by removing 99% of chlorine, fluoride, iron, lead, and organisms such as giardia, e-coli and cryptosporidium.

For a severely contaminated drinking supply, you may need more than a reverse osmosis water filter. If you have a private well, these systems work well with a water softener. They strain out the salts in your water that naturally occur during softening. Reverse osmosis works well in conjunction with ultra violet treatment systems. If your source is known to be contaminated with high levels of pollution or microorganisms, a combination of RO and UV is the best way to treat the problem.

The downside of a reverse osmosis treatment system is that it requires a lot of pressure to work properly. Another problem is the process can be slower than other filtration methods. Because of the time needed to treat the water, you will get less than fifteen gallons in a day for an under sink model. This is sufficient for cooking and drinking in most homes. The drinking water purification process uses about five gallons of wastewater for each gallon it purifies.

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