What's The Deal With Reverse Osmosis? Does It Remove Pharmaceuticals From Our Drinking Water?
You might ask, does reverse osmosis(RO) remove pharmaceuticals from water, because of recent news reports. In the United States and all over the world researchers have found a variety of pharmaceutical in water supply tanks and reservoirs meant for public use.
If you have a home RO system, your question is understandable. If you are serviced by a treatment facility, then you should know that they already use RO. So, the fact that researchers found pharmaceuticals in water supply systems ready to be sent to customers should tip you off.
The answer to does reverse osmosis remove pharmaceuticals from water is a simple “no”. The traces are too small. They pass through the membranes along with any other chemical contaminants that are molecularly smaller than water’s molecules.
When and why is RO needed in a home? It is only necessary when the source is of such poor quality that large contaminants are present. For example, filtering river water for use by the public requires the use of RO. Filtering saltwater also requires the step, but additional steps are necessary to include safety. Desalination plants typically include a re-mineralization step to improve taste and healthfulness.
So, if the question to “does reverse osmosis remove pharmaceuticals from water” is “no”, then why do facilities use the step. Once again, there are some contaminants that can best be removed by the systems. They are just not practical or cost effective for the average homeowner.
Instead of asking “does reverse osmosis remove pharmaceuticals from water?”, you might ask how the drugs and medications got there in the first place? The reason for pharmaceuticals in water supply reservoirs is rather simple, but might be difficult to understand. There are several possible avenues of contamination.
First, pharmaceutical companies could be the culprits. Water is used to manufacture many common medications. It is used for rinsing, mixing and cleaning up at the end of the day. Some of the pharmaceuticals in water supply facilities could be due to pharmaceutical companies in the area.
If you live near a 3M plant, for example, they have been asked to take measures to “clean up” some of their other spills that have caused contamination. They could be the source of the pharmaceuticals in water supply systems in your area.
Second, people, all of us, are responsible for the pharmaceuticals in water supply reserves around the world. We take a medication. Only some of it is absorbed by our body. The rest passes through along with the other waste products that the body produces. We flush that down the toilet and it goes to a sewage treatment facility.
The sewage treatment facility does its job, for the most part, and then puts that back into rivers or other watersheds. If the river is the source of the public’s drinking water, then there you have your answer. The pharmaceuticals in water supply reservoirs are your fault. Only a sub-micron filtration system with activated carbon and multi-media filters can remove them, so buy one.
Hopefully, this answered your questions about “does reverse osmosis remove pharmaceuticals from water”, how they got there to begin with and what to do about them.
