What Is the Meaning of Reverse Osmosis?

Reverse osmosis (RO), sometimes called ultrafiltration, is a water treatment method originally developed to desalinate seawater. RO is now used to treat household drinking water and can improve the taste and purity of water.

Reverse Osmosis Process

• The RO process utilizes a semipermeable membrane with microscopic openings. These openings are large enough for water molecules to pass through, but too small for salt and other large molecules.

Considerations

• Test your home water supply before installing a RO system, to determine the bacterial and mineral content of your water. RO is generally used only on drinking and cooking water and cannot remove all bacterial contaminations.

Equipment

• RO systems include a pre-filter, a post-filter, the semipermeable membrane, a pressurized storage tank and a separate tap. This equipment is usually located under the kitchen sink.

Advantages

• RO systems can remove impurities from water, such as salt and iron, improving its taste and purity.

Disadvantages

• RO uses a lot of water in the purification process, wasting approximately three gallons of water for every gallon of drinking water produced. In addition, it cannot remove all contaminants, since some chemicals, such as chlorine, are small enough to pass through the semipermeable membrane.