When it comes to cleaning up salty, brackish, water from a well, or even water laced with a lot of iron, manganese, sulphur, etc., reverse osmosis reviews are very good. And, I would say well deserved. However, RO technology is costly and cumbersome to say the least, and, unless you have the salt water problem, there are now much better systems to use. Today we will do a reverse osmosis water treatment comparison with more modern technology.

In large areas of the U.S., people are dealing with brackish water, or water with high mineral content. I have been offered such water that I just could not drink due to the strong taste or smell. I have also tasted the water after it was filtered with a RO system and, although the owner’s though it tasted great, I always found it to be “stale” tasting.

A flat or stale taste with filtered water can be tolerated, but it does indicate another issue. You see, the funny taste comes from the lack of minerals in the newly filtered water. RO systems do a very good job of removing minerals…too many minerals, perhaps. We need minerals like potassium and calcium for good health and water needs minerals to remain neutral. Water without minerals is a bit acidic and it will attempt to regain neutrality by swiping calcium from our cells, teeth and bones. Osteoporosis suffers may want to consider mineral supplements or food additives if they are drinking water from an RO system.

Cancer specialists have weighed in on this also, saying they also believe such water is potentially dangerous since it creates a slightly acidic state in the body and cancer is believed to thrive only in a slightly acidic environment.

RO systems filter by forcing water through a semi-permeable membrane. Any molecules larger than water molecules are separated out and removed. The amount of force required may necessitate an auxiliary pump and it is a something you will want to ask about before you buy.

Even with adequate pressure, however achieved, much of the water still will not pass through the membrane and, with many systems it becomes a costly waste byproduct.

The vast majority of our drinking water is “sanitized” with chlorine, a poison, and chlorine will not be removed by a RO system because the molecules are even smaller than water’s and will pass thruogh the screen. The same is true of the thousands of synthetic organic chemicals found in our water supplies. To have these compounds removed a carbon filter must be used in combination with any RO system.

Any filter system will somewhat reduce your water pressure, but, as you might expect, RO systems are very slow producers. In order to have an adequate supply of water for bathing or doing laundry you will need a storage tank complete with a diaphram to maintain pressure.

These units are bulky, comparatively, and with the extra pumps, storage tanks, etc., they generally will require the assistance of a plumber to install and, even then, will often lead to maintenance issues. These extra components also make them prone to higher initial costs and higher operating costs, which are two of the leading gripes that come up in reverse osmosis reviews.

Ninety-five percent of households in the US get their drinking water from some sort of chlorinated source such as a well or a utility company. If that’s the case with you as well, you might want to compare a selective filtration system (also called multi-stage) against the RO system.

Selective filtration uses activated carbon which is blended with a chemically charged filter resin, and then compressed in a solid block having tiny, submicron pores. No ‘Rube Goldberg’ system here. The bad water simply flows in one end of the filter, with normal household water pressure, and the good, clean, healthy water flows out the other end with the healthy minerals (selectively) intact. All heavy minerals are removed by ion exchange.

Good bye booster pumps, storage tanks, maintenance costs, operating costs and mineral supplements. Once connected to your water supply they do their thing, virtually maintenance free, giving you and your family great tasting, healthy water.