Reverse Osmosis

Quick info post on reverse osmosis (RO). An RO unit typically mounts under your sink and comes with a designated faucet that delivers the filtered water. You'll know when you see one... it mounts to the side of the main faucet and is a much skinnier and often stylish version of the main faucet. Here's the deal, the main part of the unit is the TFC membrane. You can picture it like a long sheet of cellophane with millions of tiny holes in it. Then the sheet is rolled up and water is pushed through it. Everything that isn't water is stopped by the membrane. The filter is effective down to the molecular level, and is used to remove lots of impurities including flouride, salt and dissolved solids. Bacteria and viruses are also unable to pass through the filter although its not industry standard to make that claim. (FYI: its also not industry standard to call it a filter... or to call water "pure" but that is besides the point.) Anyway, the water is pushed through the membrane and held it a storage tank (also under your sink) until you need it. And the water that doesn't make it through the membrane? Unfortunately, that goes down the drain. The "reject" water is rightfully the main criticism of reverse osmosis systems. Depending on the quality of the raw water, a RO can reject 4 times the amount it provides for drinking.
What determines the wild price variations for units online? One is obviously style, brand and marketing. But the other is that an RO unit often comes with other filters. The units are sold by the number of "stages", up to 5 stages, and the "RO" is only one of them. The others are a combination of dirt and sediment filters, and carbon filters (the same stuff in a brita filter).
The quality of the water is unbeatable, and because you only use the water for drinking, the reject water doesn't typically add up to on a given day.
And of course, we sell them and other drinking water systems on our site (www.drink-your-tap-water.com).