RO for drinking

[Joel A]

Maybe RODI water causes issues when you drink only that because there are no ions (salts, minerals) in the water. Fluids move across permeable membranes to equalize concentration. So maybe if you drink too much RODI you actually are extracting and peeing critical minerals from your system. I've been out of school way too long for this type of question.

well that was the thought behind it all when the person ended up in the hospital for dehydration, but of course they never actually pinned it to that one aspect.

 

[Blueflu1]

Or the RO membrane, that's why it's called reject ... but who's counting


FWIW I've had it each way and IMO the pre RO and the Post RO taste fine it's after the DI that it tastes "flat" for lack of a better term.

Ahhh your right. I wasn't thinking. The waste is the reject from the RO.

 

[paulthomas]

Maybe RODI water causes issues when you drink only that because there are no ions (salts, minerals) in the water. Fluids move across permeable membranes to equalize concentration. So maybe if you drink too much RODI you actually are extracting and peeing critical minerals from your system. I've been out of school way too long for this type of question.

That's what I heard. Makes sense that processing the consumed water would sap your body of ions. I heard it also does a number on your stomach's lining.

I've been using RO only for drinking water for two plus years now. IMO, my water after being filtered, tastes much better than most spring water brands... at a fraction of the cost!

I wonder if filtering urine through an RO would make it safe for drinking? Marc, you want to take this? LOL.

 

[stingythingy45]

That's what I heard. Makes sense that processing the consumed water would sap your body of ions. I heard it also does a number on your stomach's lining.

I've been using RO only for drinking water for two plus years now. IMO, my water after being filtered, tastes much better than most spring water brands... at a fraction of the cost!

I wonder if filtering urine through an RO would make it safe for drinking? Marc, you want to take this? LOL.

We also drink RO water from our Water General dual unit.
It has the 3 gallon holding tank with the pressure membrane.
That water currently is at 13 tds.

Urine drinking should be left to Bear Grylles.lol

 

[paulthomas]

We also drink RO water from our Water General dual unit.
It has the 3 gallon holding tank with the pressure membrane.
That water currently is at 13 tds.

Urine drinking should be left to Bear Grylles.lol

Our tap usually reads ~ 200 TDS. RO was 8 last time I checked. Question is, what is that 10? Dun, dun, dun.

 

[RiverReefer]

I took a vacation to Aruba about 3 months ago, the drinking water there is rated the cleanest or second cleanest in the world by the World Health Organization-coming out of the tap I think it read 2 tds per thousandth or sometihng like that. The entire islands water is produced by a desalination plant (second largest in the world only behind saudi arabia) and then run through a reverse osmosis treatment....same as our RO systems we use but on a much larger scale. They are so proud of the water there, and they should be...its phenomenal.

 

[paulthomas]

I took a vacation to Aruba about 3 months ago, the drinking water there is rated the cleanest or second cleanest in the world by the World Health Organization-coming out of the tap I think it read 2 tds per thousandth or sometihng like that. The entire islands water is produced by a desalination plant (second largest in the world only behind saudi arabia) and then run through a reverse osmosis treatment....same as our RO systems we use but on a much larger scale. They are so proud of the water there, and they should be...its phenomenal.

Same deal on Andros, Bahamas. We'd drive by the plant every morning on the way to the ramp. Well, except when we went to the west side of the island. This sounds lame, but their water was "delicious." Man, when a cold bottle came out of the cooler, we'd practically fight over it. I was told that Andros supplies the rest of the major islands in the Bahamas with drinking water. Good stuff. Good times.

 

[stingythingy45]

I've heard that Phoenix Arizona has the worst drinking water.
I've read on other reefer sites that ro membrane doesn't last very long as well as all the pre-filters.Must be a real drag to have water that bad.

 

[Dave McReeferson]

Probably true that the RODI waste water is suitable to drink, but it's actually dirtier than your tap water. RODI waste water has a higher concentration of contaminants, because it carries away the stuff that's been cleaned out of the RODI product water.

I have heard this view posted before, and I believe it is incorrect. Before your water reaches the membrane it has (typically) already passed through at least one sediment filter and a half micron carbon block. I suppose it is true that whatever is left is "concentrated" to some degree in the reject water, but you need to consider that the water reaching this stage in your filter is already many times cleaner that what you are likely getting from your faucet. I'd wager it is not only significantly better in purity than your tap water, but it is likely higher in quality than what you get from one of those britta faucet filter attachments that so many people rely on for their water filtering needs.

Given that publicly supplied water is just fine for drinking, I'd say there is little to worry about there.