Does reverse osmosis remove pharmaceuticals from water? My straightforward answer is a big NO. Read the article in full for my straightforward explanations.
All about reverse osmosis
Reverse osmosis is a widely used technique of water purification. Initially, it was designed as an industrial solution for removing contaminants in the water used in photo printing and photocopying. You see, reverse osmosis was originally intended as an industrial answer to an industrial problem.
Having found that reverse osmosis was effective enough in eliminating chemical contaminants, people tried to use it for purifying water for human consumption. Now, you must initially realize that this technique does not guarantee full elimination of contaminants since drinking water has a much higher quality requirement than the one being used in photocopying and printing.
Reverse osmosis as a means of purifying water requires a strong mechanical pressure that forces the water molecule to pass through a semi-permeable membrane. The size of the pores on the membrane is just small enough to allow the passage of water molecule. Anything larger than water is trapped. But what about those compounds that have much smaller molecular sizes?
Actually, this is where the problem lies. Many water contaminants have much smaller molecular sizes than water. As such, they pass through the membrane and the water output continues to be tainted with those substances. Many use chlorine but this only make matters worse.
Here goes chlorine again
Lest you forget, chlorine is technically considered as a toxic chemical. Earliest versions of chemical weapons during the First World War actually used chlorine as the basic toxic chemical. Aside from this, a study conducted has shown that when two or more chemical contaminants combine to become another compound chemical, the level of toxicity increases by as much as 1,000 times.
Most pharmaceuticals found in drinking water came from sewer leaks. Have you not noticed that many companies producing syrup advise you to throw away expired or unused medicines by flushing them out in your toilet? Various chemical reagents found in syrup go down the drain and eventually find their way to ground water sources, among others.
Even farms contribute to pollution by pharmaceuticals of our water. Expired and excess antibiotics and other veterinary medicines are simply flushed in canals. Unregulated disposal systems in many large farms further increase the amount of pharmaceuticals in water supply, eventually tainting your drinking water.
Your only guarantee for a truly clean and safe drinking water is the use of multi-stage filters that eliminate all chemical and biological pollutants in the water.
Does reverse osmosis remove pharmaceuticals from water? Now you understand my negative answer.
Author Resource:-
If you are still wondering which water filters are good for you, then come visit my site at http://www.purest-water-filters.com for more information related to water purifiers.
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