RO water purifiers are the most important appliance for homes as it provides clean, pure, and healthy drinking water. RO water purification is the most popular water purification technology used in India. The water purification process removes all toxic chemicals, salts, and heavy metals. Though RO water purifiers are ideal for filtering out germs, however, many people are skeptical when it comes to drinking RO water. The question they have in mind is whether RO water is safe for drinking. The answer can be explained by knowing how RO purification works? If you too have the same question, we are here to help you out. In this blog, we discuss RO purification process and the effects of drinking RO water.
Table of Contents
How does a reverse osmosis purification system work?
As the name suggests, Reverse Osmosis is the opposite of the Osmosis process. During RO purification, water forces through a semi-permeable membrane at high pressure. The semipermeable membrane traps all the impurities such as chemicals, toxins. As a result, the remaining water is free of all kinds of contaminants. You get only clean and safe drinking water on the purified side. Now, the key question is whether this purified RO water is safe for drinking. Here’s what we found.
Is RO water safe to Drink?
One of the reasons people consider RO water unsafe for drinking is because it removes all the contaminants and some essential minerals from water. There are some minerals in drinking water which are beneficial for good health. Being slightly bigger in size, the RO membrane trap and remove the essential minerals from drinking water. This purified RO water is not good for consumption as it doesn’t contain the essential minerals required by our body. The excess of these minerals can also be harmful as we also get minerals from the food we eat.
So, should you avoid RO Water?
It is not safe to drink the water that directly comes by applying RO water purification process. If you are using an RO water purifier, there needs to be some other technology that will help in maintaining the essential minerals lost during the purification process.
RO water purifiers from some of the renowned brands use a combination of different purification technologies such as UV and UF along with reverse osmosis processes to provide safe drinking water. You cannot deny the fact that RO water purifiers remove essential minerals during the purification process. As a result, many RO water purifiers come with TDS controllers that help in maintaining the essential minerals in water.
What is the function of a TDS Controller?
TDS controller is a device present in RO water purifiers that adjusts the TDS level in water. A TDS Controller, just like the name suggests, helps in controlling the level of Total Dissolved Salts (TDS) present in water. During the RO water purification process, water that goes into the RO is divided into 2 parts:
Part 1: The water goes into the RO Membrane and undergoes the RO purification process.
Part 2: In the 2nd part, the water passes through UF membrane or a UV chamber depending on the purification technology used by the water purifier. The 2nd part also has a TDS controller that adjusts the amount of minerals present in water to ensure that it is completely safe to drink.
Also Read: Top 10 Best Water Purifiers For Domestic Purpose
Conclusion
Reverse osmosis is the only process that purifies drinking water which is not safe for consumption. RO water purifiers with TDS controller is an ideal way to get pure and healthy water with essential minerals in it. Water purifiers from renowned brands such as Kent use purification of RO+UV+UF with TDS controller to provide safe and healthy water. To ensure that the water you drink is pure and healthy, ensure that you use a water purifier which uses a combination of RO+UV+UF along with a TDS controller. So, if you using a water purifier with the purification of RO+UV+UF+TDS technology, you are drinking water which is safe and good for health.
I have an RO water purifier since i was staying in area where only bore well water was available. Now i have moved to an area where only corporation water is available. But since last two years i have note replaced by RO water purifier and drinking the same RO water.
Please suggest is it really high time to replace the RO water with some best technology available, if so please suggest one best purifier.. do not forget to indicate the maintenance cost associated with the purifier to be suggested by you.
Apart from above please also suggest that during this transition i.e. from RO to other technology whether me or my family metabolism will accept this change without getting affected. Please reply on all the above points in detail.
Dear Pankaj,
RO water purifiers last for a long time, as a result you don’t need to replace it. As long as the water purifier removes the impurities and provides safe water, you don’t need to replace the water purifier. Don’t forget to get the RO membrane checked to ensure that it is in good condition. However, if you are looking for a new RO water purifier that uses advanced technology and at the same time helps save water, you can check out the water purifiers with save water technology. These water purifiers recover approximately 50% water and also store the rejected water in a separate tank. As a result, you can use the rejected water for different purposes such as mopping, washing or gardening.
Now days there not much issue with the water purifiers. The RO process do the same as mentioned in the post it remove the impurities and as well as the minerals also from the water. So that means it demineralize the water. But with these now days there are more technologies are available in the purifiers such as the UV/UF technology or the alkaline technology and more which helps remineralize the water and gives you the minerals water for drinking.
Ro water purifier no doubt is the best way to purify water.
Its ro membrane removes soluble and insoluble particles from water. It also kills and removes the bacteria and virus present in water. It balances the salts and minerals present in water and brings it to consumable TDS level of water.
Ro water is very pure and safe. There is no harm to use it. It’s all myth that it is not safe.
This is a very controversial topic in the water world. The primary argument behind theory seems to be based on one study released by the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO produces international norms on water quality and human health in the form of guidelines that are used as the basis for regulation and standard setting world-wide. There are few health issues of RO water consumption
Water with TDS up to 500 ppm doesn’t require R.O bcoz water is neither saline nor brackish. On corporation water, which normally ranges from 100ppm to 150ppm, putting R.O means simply bleaching the water. Even if you go for TDS controller, you cant get healthy water from R.O, even though it may be safe. Purifiers should be used on Corporation Water or water up to 500 PPM ( I am using 3M Drinking Water System, a purifier, which makes water safe while retaining essential minerals and gives water without any storage (negating bacteria a chance to re-grow), and having a flow rate of 5 litres per minute).
Very insightful and detailed. I don’t think any house uses tap water now. RO is something every household definitely should have.