Reverse Osmosis Water Purifiers - How This Outdated Technology Hurts the Environment and Your Wallet
Reverse osmosis water purifiers have been in use for decades.
They have been a fairly effective tool against unhealthy water.
Newer advances, however, may soon render the reverse osmosis sysem obsolete.
If we are going to be talking about reverse osmosis water purifiers, then perhaps it would be a good idea to try understand just what osmosis is.
Basically, osmosis is the diffusion of a substance from a level of high concentration to a level of low concentration, usually across a semi-permeable membrane.
Consider two containers of water, one fresh and one salt.
If these two containers are connected by a semi-permeable membrane through which the salt (NaCl) molecules can flow, they will flow into the fresh water.
Allowed to continue, the flow of the salt molecules will stop and the two containers will hold the same amount of salt.
The reverse osmosis sysem, as the name implies, works in "reverse", it can, with enough time and energy, remove the salt from the water.
Reverse osmosis water purifiers contain a number of different membranes through which the water eventually flows.
In osmosis or passive diffusion, no energy is required.
To use the reverse osmosis sysem, some force is required to push the water through the semi-permeable membranes.
In smaller varieties, this can be done simply with gravity, placing one membrane below the next and allowing the water to flow down through them.
In larger reverse osmosis water purifiers, more force is needed than gravity can provide, and a power source is required.
Thinking about this in today's world, this raises an interesting point.
Perhaps among all of the drawbacks of reverse osmosis water purifiers relative to newer filters, this expenditure of energy is the most poignant.
With the cost of energy prices soaring more each day and the need to look for alternative sources of energy that are safer for the environment, the reverse osmosis sysem no longer makes sense.
Unlike reverse osmosis water purifiers, systems do not require electricity for pumping.
The water pressure in your home is sufficient.
Of course there are the other drawbacks to the reverse osmosis sysem such as the amount of water that is actually wasted during the filtering process, about five gallons for every one that passes through, or the ineffectiveness against chemical contaminants, such as chlorine.
But, when you open your utility bills, you might see that the biggest benefit to not using reverse osmosis water purifiers is money saved.
You want to provide safe healthy water for your family, but it doesn't have to cost a fortune to do that.
Newer technology actually costs less than the older technology of the reverse osmosis sysem.
Whole house reverse osmosis water purifiers still cost in excess of $10,000.
Newer and more effective whole house systems can be purchased for less than a thousand.
The choice is of course yours, but we think that reverse osmosis water purifiers are bad for the environment and a waste of precious resources.
They have been a fairly effective tool against unhealthy water.
Newer advances, however, may soon render the reverse osmosis sysem obsolete.
If we are going to be talking about reverse osmosis water purifiers, then perhaps it would be a good idea to try understand just what osmosis is.
Basically, osmosis is the diffusion of a substance from a level of high concentration to a level of low concentration, usually across a semi-permeable membrane.
Consider two containers of water, one fresh and one salt.
If these two containers are connected by a semi-permeable membrane through which the salt (NaCl) molecules can flow, they will flow into the fresh water.
Allowed to continue, the flow of the salt molecules will stop and the two containers will hold the same amount of salt.
The reverse osmosis sysem, as the name implies, works in "reverse", it can, with enough time and energy, remove the salt from the water.
Reverse osmosis water purifiers contain a number of different membranes through which the water eventually flows.
In osmosis or passive diffusion, no energy is required.
To use the reverse osmosis sysem, some force is required to push the water through the semi-permeable membranes.
In smaller varieties, this can be done simply with gravity, placing one membrane below the next and allowing the water to flow down through them.
In larger reverse osmosis water purifiers, more force is needed than gravity can provide, and a power source is required.
Thinking about this in today's world, this raises an interesting point.
Perhaps among all of the drawbacks of reverse osmosis water purifiers relative to newer filters, this expenditure of energy is the most poignant.
With the cost of energy prices soaring more each day and the need to look for alternative sources of energy that are safer for the environment, the reverse osmosis sysem no longer makes sense.
Unlike reverse osmosis water purifiers, systems do not require electricity for pumping.
The water pressure in your home is sufficient.
Of course there are the other drawbacks to the reverse osmosis sysem such as the amount of water that is actually wasted during the filtering process, about five gallons for every one that passes through, or the ineffectiveness against chemical contaminants, such as chlorine.
But, when you open your utility bills, you might see that the biggest benefit to not using reverse osmosis water purifiers is money saved.
You want to provide safe healthy water for your family, but it doesn't have to cost a fortune to do that.
Newer technology actually costs less than the older technology of the reverse osmosis sysem.
Whole house reverse osmosis water purifiers still cost in excess of $10,000.
Newer and more effective whole house systems can be purchased for less than a thousand.
The choice is of course yours, but we think that reverse osmosis water purifiers are bad for the environment and a waste of precious resources.
