In our opinion, the disadvantages of reverse osmosis (R/O) greatly outweigh the advantages. The question is, "Does R/O make your water the safest to drink?" We feel the answer is without a doubt, “No”!

The R/O process was used primarily in industry for the purpose of de-mineralizing water used by boilers. This was and is done to keep deposits from building up inside the machines leading to breakdowns and costly repairs. Its other use is for water treatment at very large scale commercial and industrial facilities.

Since our answer to the question, "Does R/O make water safe to drink?" was "No", then it probably makes you wonder why R/O would be used for water treatment? There is much better technology available today for the purpose of making our water safe to drink.

The disadvantages of R/O make the system a poor choice for this purpose. All that the treatment is designed to do is de-mineralize the water. The process is not capable of removing contaminants that are at or below the molecular weight of the water that carries them.

Many chemicals and microscopic organisms fit into this category. These contaminants are sent straight through the pipes to your house or business where they wait to be consumed. There are over 2,100 well known cancer causing chemicals in our reservoir system, and the treatment facilities cannot remove them from the water due to inadequate equipment. With RO technology, water is forced against a membrane that contains pores so tiny that only water molecules are supposed to squeeze through — leaving impurities behind.

So as you can see, the answer to the question, "Does R/O make water safe to drink?" With all of these toxins and organisms let loose on us, how could anyone justify claiming that it was making our tap water safe to drink. It is better fit for consumption than before the process, but it is by no means safe.

The disadvantages of R/O become even greater in the models that are designed for home use. The machines waste a tremendous amount of water, at a rate of five gallons of wastewater created to every one gallon cleaned. Add to that fact that the system runs on electricity and consumers will see a marked increase in their energy bills.

While the process works well, the technique does have its problems.

• Even the best RO systems waste a lot of water;

• RO is not good at removing certain volatile organic chemicals from water like pesticides, herbicides, petroleum distillates, and pharmaceutical residues;

• RO strips water of beneficial minerals;

• Membranes can “break-through” rendering product water unsafe without warning; and

• High quality units are relatively expensive to buy, install and difficult as well as costly to maintain.

A better system and technology is available that will do the job that R/O fails to accomplish and at a price that is more affordable. The best systems to consider feature a multi-stage filtering system in order to protect consumers from all manner of contaminants.

The best units will feature both an activated granular carbon and a multimedia filter, which will remove the threat posed by chlorine and other chemicals. It should also make use of a sub-micron filter, which will eliminate the dangerous biological elements from your water.