Does Reverse Osmosis Remove Bacteria?

Municipal water is treated and certified as fit to drink. However, it may still contain some elements you don’t want, such as contaminants, chlorine that is added to treat the water, and fluoride that’s supposed to protect your teeth.

Many people rely on well water and that can be much worse for bacteria content and other contaminants. Well water is also not regulated in any way so it’s up to you to make sure your water is safe to drink and use. The answer to the problem is often a reverse osmosis filter that will remove harmful content.

How Reverse Osmosis Removes Bacteria and Other Contaminants?

Reverse osmosis works by forcing water under pressure through a semi-permeable membrane. This membrane typically has a pore size of 0.1 nanometers, which is small enough to prevent bacteria and other contaminants from passing through. All that penetrates for use is pure, fresh water while the contaminants are periodically flushed away as waste water by a mixture of salt and water.

The reverse osmosis process is normally part of a system that includes pre-filtration methods to remove sediment and other harmful particles. The whole process therefore removes almost all contaminants from your water, including bacteria.

Reverse osmosis is recognized as the most effective way to purify water and its main purpose is to remove bacteria. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) gives it the highest rating of all filtration types and says reverse osmosis has very high effectiveness in the removal of bacteria.

There are alternative methods to reverse osmosis, such as ultraviolet, distillation, and other various water filtration systems with different pore sizes that include micro (0.1 micron), ultra-fine(0.01 micron) and nano (0.001 micron). Most of these are highly effective in the removal of bacteria although reverse osmosis is by far the most effective in removing other contaminants including viruses, pathogens, and some chemicals.

Why Reverse Osmosis is Important to Remove Bacteria?

Bacteria are commonplace and often won’t cause you any harm. However, when they get into your water supply, they can be a serious threat to your health and can cause vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, headaches, cramps, severe fatigue, and fever.

Most at risk are those with a weakened immune system. This particularly includes HIV/Aids sufferers, those with cancer or immune system disorders, the elderly, and recipients of organ transplants.

It is possible to kill various microorganisms by boiling your water. However, this can be expensive, may be impractical in every case, and won’t protect you from all threats.

Reverse osmosis systems are point of use in that they are connected to a single outlet, often a faucet in the kitchen. The alternative is a whole house or point-of-entry system that ensures every drop of water used in your house has been effectively treated, so you are not exposed to any contaminated water, whether for drinking, cooking, washing, cleaning, or any other purpose. For reverse osmosis, you may need to install several systems to achieve this.

The health of you and your family is important so you need to ensure you have the freshest and cleanest water available. Only a reverse osmosis system can do that effectively.