UV Sterilization
Reverse Osmosis
Distillation
Water Softening & Iron Removal
Well Abandonment Chlorination
Water Treatment – Reverse Osmosis
Reverse osmosis, commonly called RO, is a water treatment process for removing many different contaminants from drinking water. This document provides greater detail concerning RO treatment. Many decades ago, scientists noted that water molecules would spontaneously migrate through certain membranes that were separating a dilute solution from a concentrated solution.
This phenomenon is called osmosis. They also noted that if pressure was added to contaminant solution, this natural flow could be “reversed”. This reversal allows the contaminant solution to be concentrated and allows purified water to be produced.
Amount of Water to be Treated
Where only a small volume of treated water is needed (say 0-10 gallons per day (gpd)), RO is typically the most flexible and cost efficient treatment process available for private home use. Devices treating small volumes of water are often called “under-the-sink” or “point-of-use” sized treatment devices. Treatment devices which purify all water used in a home are commonly called “whole house” or “point-of-entry” sized water treatment devices.
Contaminants Appropriate for RO Treatment
Certain contaminants in drinking water do not need to be fully removed from all of the water used in the home, but only from that water which will be consumed internally or used in food preparation. Some of these contaminants include:
Rejection Performance
| Contaminant | CTA Rejection | TFC Rejection | Contaminant | CTA Rejection | TFC Rejection |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aluminum | 90-95% | 93-98% | Magnesium | 90-95% | 93-98% |
| Arsenic | 90-95% | 93-98% | Manganese | 90-95% | 93-98% |
| Barium | 90-95% | 93-98% | Mercury | 90-95% | 93-98% |
| Bicarbonate | 90-95% | 93-98% | Nickel | 90-95% | 93-98% |
| Boron | 30-40% | 55-60% | Nitrate 3 | 40-50% | 85-90% |
| Cadmium | 90-95% | 93-98% | Phosphate | 90-95% | 93-98% |
| Calcium | 90-95% | 93-98% | Potassium | 85-90% | 93-95% |
| Chloride | 85-90% | 90-95% | Radioactivity | 90-95% | 90-95% |
| Chromate | 85-90% | 90-95% | Selenium | 90-95% | 90-95% |
| Chromium | 90-95% | 93-98% | Silver | 90-95% | 93-98$ |
| Copper | 90-95% | 93-98% | Sodium | 85-90% | 90-95% |
| Cyanide | 85-90% | 90-95% | Strontium | 90-95% | 93-98% |
| Fluoride | 85-90% | 90-95% | Sulfate | 90-95% | 93-98% |
| Iron 2 | 90-95% | 93-98% | Zinc | 90-95% | 93-98% |
| Lead | 90-95% | 93-98% |
Manufacturer
Wellmaster Pumps installs and maintains Aquaflow reverse osmosis products. They have an excellent selection of high quality filters for residences and businesses.
