Dead water is also acidic since its pH slides below seven without alkaline minerals like calcium and magnesium. But the good news is, there are reverse osmosis filtration systems that just do not stop at removing contaminants but also add minerals. The RO systems/appliances that are presently available in the market re- The water obtained through RO is supposed to be dead water (i.e., neutral water) as it removes all minerals – good as well as bad. As a result, it generates water that is neither harmful nor helpful. However, dead water is acidic since its pH slides below seven without alkaline minerals like calcium and magnesium.
Water needs to have some minerals, such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, etc. to provide key health benefits. Further, mineralize the RO water and thus compensate for the essential minerals lost in the process of RO. For instance, the Pureit RO system and several other makes/brands available in the market have a special/separate cartridge to re-mineralize the water. A quality RO system thus adds in good minerals after filtering everything out, leaving the water cleaner and healthier than it was before. Hence, RO is no longer dead water, stripped of its good minerals, such as calcium and magnesium. In a way, with present-day available RO systems, you have the best of both worlds.
Calcium is essential for many different body functions. It enhances bone growth, helps muscles contract, keeps the heart functioning properly, etc. When a person is deficient in calcium, all sorts of health problems can occur, including tooth decay, bone fractures, and insufficient blood clotting, etc. Similarly, magnesium helps the body in a wide variety of ways. It promotes healthy brain function, lowers blood pressure, fights inflammation, etc. Without it, the body is susceptible to many disorders, including heart diseases, osteoporosis, and type-2 diabetes.
A reverse osmosis filter (RO filter) channels water through a semi-permeable membrane to remove dissolved solids. These dissolved solids include harmful contaminants like lead, mercury, chromium-6, chlorine, etc. RO removes lead from water and frees people from many diseases such as high blood pressure, nerve damage and low fertility. The water that is ideal to consume is rich in minerals which adds nutrition to one’s health like inorganic substances (such as rocks and similar matter) found in the earth strata, like calcium, magnesium, potassium, etc. Parasites are another threat to clean and safer water. It may be noted that some people are more vulnerable and at greater risk of getting sick from contaminants in drinking water, for instance, people undergoing chemotherapy, or those who have received a transplant, pregnant women, older adults and children, etc.
There is much debate about the harmfulness of RO water. But the point is that the debate misses talk about valuable alkaline minerals that the body needs. RO is a simple, yet effective method for filtering out harmful contaminants like TDS (total dissolved solids), host of toxins, arsenic, fluoride, silica, etc. from water. Once the water is effectively dead, the present RO systems bring it back to life by adding in healthy minerals, including calcium and magnesium. Tube well water may not necessarily be bad, but it is essential that it is constantly tested twice a year for contaminants.
There are certain studies wherein the RO system with remineralization has been forcefully defended. One instance is that of Gary Battenberg (USA), a Technical Support and Systems Design Specialist who has 37 years of experience in the fields of domestic, commercial, industrial, high-purity and sterile water treatment processes and has worked in the areas which include design and manufacturing of water treatment systems and processes utilizing filtration, ion exchange, UV sterilization, reverse osmosis and ozone technologies. Another instance is that of Peter Cartwright who having long innings in the water purification and wastewater treatment industry has had his own consulting engineering firm since 1980. Cartwright has provided consulting services to more than 250 clients globally. He is a recipient of both the Awards of Merit and Lifetime Member Award from the Water Quality Association and is the Technical Consultant for the Canadian Water Quality Association.
However, ever since a Report of the WHO came some years ago on pitfalls of RO water and a former Director of the CSIR’s National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) claimed that RO water purifiers should be avoided and water should be drunk directly from the tap, there has been a heated debate about pros and cons of RO water. It needs to be noted that in India the tap water is not without impurities and the water that we drink from the purifiers at home may not be so-called ‘over-purified.’
Priyanka Jamwal, a fellow at the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), recently stated that most Indians depend on borewells for their drinking water and the water present in the bore wells usually contains several disease-causing impurities. Elaborating on this she stated, “I think the statement that we should drink tap water over RO water is relevant in developed countries like the US, where the tap water is as good as purified water and is free from contaminants. If we look at any report on the quality of water that India gets, we can see incidents were E.coli (bacteria that can be harmful) and other such pathogens have been detected. When you have too many contaminants in such cases, it is better to drink RO water than tap water,” Priyanka says. She adds that people can depend on the food they consume for their mineral requirements. “We should not solely depend on water for our mineral needs. The health benefits of drinking RO water are more than the drawbacks. Yes, RO water removes negligible amounts of calcium from the water but also removes harmful nitrates along with it and we are preventing diseases when we use RO or other water purifiers. Only when the tap water we are supplied is as good as this purified water, should we think about drinking tap water directly.”
Even in Indian cities, the water supplied often contains impurities/contaminants harmful to the human body and there has to be some effective and useful system for purification at the micro-level, if not at the macro level. RO system is one of the most effective methods for securing clean, healthy water in our homes or workplaces.
In addition to shedding light on the impurities and minerals present in RO water, the joint committee’s report to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) pointed out that the RO purifiers also waste almost double the water that they actually purify as ‘reject water’. “For every glass of water that it purifies, two glasses of water is wasted by purifier, which is almost 200 per cent. India, in general, faces a water crisis and it is important to save water and re-use the wastewater. The ‘reject water’ can be used for all non-potable purposes like watering plants, mopping, washing or even filling flush tanks, etc. The reject water is usually not very high in TDS. However, RO purifier companies need to be asked to minimize ‘reject water and while marketing their purifiers should/must include recommendations for re-use of reject water on their packaging.
This article is written by Manohar Bhatia, we admire this article and publish the same for the benefit of our stakeholders! Credit to him!
As published on https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/readersblog/manufocus/is-ro-reverse-osmosis-drinking-water-really-harmful-34395/
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India’s Passionate Rain Water Company