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Do You Need An RO Water Purifier In Your Home?

Water purifiers and more specifically Reverse Osmosis (RO) water purifiers are more common in the Eastern world than the Western countries and Europe.
In India they are becoming more and more common. But should you actually install one in your home?
Most people in India install is because they think they are getting the best drinking water. This is not always true. BEST drinking water should mean the water that is the healthiest for you. Water that an RO water purifier gives you is not always the best for you.

An RO water purifier and a UV water purifier just do one thing differently. The RO reduces the dissolved solids (TDS - Total Dissolved Solids), whereas the UV water purifier does not. Except for that it is believed that the UV is MORE effective in destroying pathogens in the water as compared to just RO. This is the reason why the higher end RO water purifiers use reverse osmosis in combination with UV to treat the water.

Is TDS a bad thing to have in drinking water? Only if it is an excess and contains harmful elements.

So what can be considered as excess TDS? The world health organisation says that anything less than 300 is excellent for drinking. 300 to 500 is still good water to drink and is considered unacceptable only when the TDS goes beyond 1000. According to the Indian regulatory standards water containing up to 500 in TDS safe for drinking.

You must also consider the fact that the world health organisation, Northern America as well as Europe consider TDS as a secondary standard of clean and safe drinking water. The first and primary criteria is that the water must be free of bacteria and other pathogens.

The total dissolved solids in water do not always consist of harmful elements. Harmful toxins are arsenic, lead, pesticides, sewage waste, Mercury, chlorine and fluoride. Dissolved solids like calcium and magnesium contribute to the overall hardness of the water but are considered safe for consumption as long as the overall TDS limit is below a certain number.

You need to install reverse osmosis water purifier in your home only if there is a presence of these toxins in your water supply. The most prudent way of checking this will be to get the water tested in a fully equipped lab. In most of our cities, the watersupply is not contaminated with harmful toxins.

It is an easy business checking there TDS after watersupply in your home using hand-held meter that is easily available online. If the overall TDS is below the prescribed limit and there are no toxins in your watersupply then you probably do not need an RO water purifier in your home.

A UV water purifier will work just as well for you.

Another interesting fact is that TDS range of 150 to 300 is prescribed for good cardio-vascular health. Most of the RO systems at home will give you water with the TDS that is less than 100. So there is something to think about as well.

Although there is no definite consensus on this fact, and lot of studies have shown different results, it is believed in certain Health communities that drinking water that is devoid of essential salts and very low on TDS is not good for health in the long run.

For example, the American Navy has demonstrated that the naval crew drinking water with very low TDS on their ships and submarines for an extended period of time do not suffer from any adverse  effect on their health.

So, I am guessing that you are wondering whether you need our reverse osmosis water purifier in your home either because of its high cost, the effect it might have on your health or the repercussions of using it on the environment because after all it does waste a lot of water. In a today's date we just can't afford to waste any clean water as it is a precious commodity. Even developed cities and countries are beginning to feel the pinch of shortage of clean drinking water.

If you have high TDS levels in your watersupply or if you are worried about toxins in your drinking water, use the reverse osmosis water purifying system with TDS control and mineral guards so that the TDS levels are maintained somewhat.

Here's a good article you can read about why you might not need an RO water filter at home.

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