These 5 Reverse Osmosis Alternatives Are Also Effective

Reverse osmosis (RO) is a very effective filtration process, but it’s not without its downsides. In fact, the negatives of using an RO filter sometimes makes choosing an alternative very appealing.

In this article, we’ll explore 5 different reverse osmosis alternatives with similar results as a reverse osmosis system.

Similar Topic: The 9 Types of Water Filters

1. Activated Carbon Filter

Activated carbon (AC) is typically used in conjunction with reverse osmosis to remove harmful contaminants and particles from water, such as bacteria and nasty pathogens. However, AC filters don’t have to be used with RO filters; they function perfectly well on their own.

AC filters filter water through a process called adsorption. During adsorption, the AC filter attracts contaminant particles and then holds them on its surface. The particles remain on the surface of the AC rather than being absorbed into it, and so are removed from the water that flows through the filter.

The main benefit of using activated carbon instead of reverse osmosis is that it doesn’t remove the beneficial minerals from your water supply. Unlike RO filters, AC filters target contaminants while leaving minerals like calcium and magnesium untouched.

2. Distillation

Distillation is one of the single most effective means of water filtration. It vaporizes and condenses water back to its liquid state, completely eliminating contaminants.

Water filtration through distillation successfully removes most contaminants typically found in drinking water. This includes harmful bacteria, which is the hardest contaminant for reverse osmosis to remove.

However, distillation certainly has its downsides too. For instance, like RO, it removes beneficial minerals from water alongside contaminants. Plus, it’s a very time-consuming filtration method and each distillation cycle only produces a small volume of water.

Still, it can be a more budget-friendly alternative to using an RO system as you can distill water with just a few pieces of kitchenware.

Here’s how:

1. Pour your water into a large pot until the pot is about half full.
2. Place a small pot inside the large pot so that it floats. If it doesn’t float, prop it up using a baking rack.
3. Place a lid upside down on top of the large pot.
4. Use your stovetop burner to heat the large pot.
5. As the water heats and turns to steam, it will hit the cool underside of the lid and condense back into liquid.
6. The water will collect on the underside of the lid and drip from the center into the small pot.
7. Once the small pot is full, turn off your stovetop burner.
8. You’ll now have a small amount of distilled water.

3. Sediment Filters

Sediment filters are often the first stage of most filtration systems. They’re used to remove contaminants with large particles like sediment, rust, dirt, and sand before the water reaches the later stages of the filter system. This protects the other filters from large particles that could cause damage to them over time and reduce their longevity.

If your water is mainly contaminated with things like sediment, then an RO filter might be unnecessary. Instead, you could consider using a standalone sediment filter. This will remove all of the contaminants with large particles and won’t remove any beneficial minerals, as their particles are much smaller.

However, if your water is contaminated with any other contaminants besides sediment, you should use a sediment filter combined with another type of filter. Otherwise, potentially harmful contaminants will be left intact.

4. Activated Alumina Filter

Like activated carbon filters, activated alumina (AA) filters use adsorption to remove contaminants from water. Depending on the levels of contamination, they can remove up to 99% of certain impurities like arsenic, fluoride, sulfate, selenate, and uranium.

Activated alumina filters can be used to filter out water at the point of entry for your entire house or at the point of use for a specific faucet.

On the downside, they’re quite limited in the types of contaminants they can remove. For example, unlike RO filters, they can’t remove microorganisms or dissolved salts and minerals. So, they’re only suitable if you want to remove specific contaminants from your water supply such as fluoride and arsenic.

5. Ultraviolet Disinfection

UV filters use a high-intensity lamp to disrupt the RNA or DNA of microorganisms. This means they’re unable to reproduce which effectively eliminates them from your water supply.

UV filters only target living organisms so they’re unable to remove other contaminants such as chlorine and lead. The upside is that they also don’t remove beneficial minerals, which is why they make a good alternative to RO filters.

Still, unless you only want to remove living organisms from your water, it’s best to pair a UV filter with another type of filter. For instance, they’re often used alongside AC filters, sediment filters, and RO filters to ensure water is filtered effectively.

Why (or When) Shouldn’t You Use Reverse Osmosis?

Reverse osmosis is a highly effective method for removing many different contaminants from your water. Yet, there are also several major downsides that mean you might be better off choosing an alternative.

• Removes beneficial minerals: As we’ve mentioned several times, the main downside of RO is that it removes beneficial minerals alongside contaminants. This includes minerals like calcium, magnesium, and potassium which are important for our health. In fact, several scientific studies have linked RO drinking water to issues like acute magnesium and calcium deficiency.
• Wastewater production: RO systems are also known to produce high volumes of wastewater during the filtration process. Depending on the system, the ratios can vary, but it’s not uncommon for an RO system to produce 2 to 4 gallons of wastewater for every gallon of purified water. They’re not very eco-friendly.
• High maintenance costs: RO filters need to be replaced more often than other types of filters. This increases the amount of maintenance they require and the costs of replacement filters can mount up over time.
• Might not be necessary: If the main issues with your water are unpleasant tastes and odors, then you might not need an RO filter. You can easily resolve taste and odor issues with a cheaper alternative, like an AC filter.
• Doesn’t remove all contaminants: Although highly effective, RO filtration doesn’t always remove VOCs and some emerging contaminants.

Ultimately, you need to weigh up all these factors before you decide whether an RO filter is the right choice for you. If you do decide to install one, we’d highly recommend installing a remineralizer too. This reintroduces the beneficial minerals removed by the RO process to ensure you’re not missing out on healthy drinking water.