Does a Reverse Osmosis Water Purification system waste water? According to any dictionary, wasting is defined as ‘to consume uselessly’. When we have dirt on our hands and we use water to wash it away, we do not consider it as wasting water. We usually utilize over 20 gallons of water to wash our utensils or clothes every day. Yet, we don’t consider that wasting. In the same way, a Reverse Osmosis Drinking Water System uses water to wash out impurities out of water.

In a Reverse Osmosis system, water pressure is used to push water through a series of filters and membranes which separates the contaminants and pure water. The contaminants are then washed away with, again, more water! The pristine water is collected in a storage tank for consumption. This process usually needs about 4 gallons of water to make about one gallon of pure and clean water. The amount of water rejected depends on the temperature of the water, the amount of dissolved impurities and contaminants present in the water.

There are some RO systems which are labelled zero waste. These systems try to reuse water by circulating them back into the filters repeatedly. This can quickly wear down the fine filters and can double your costs for lesser water wastage. There is an option of sending the waste water output line to other water lines. If you live in an area with high contamination risks, you might want to avoid doing this. You can also utilize this water to pre rinse clothes, mop your floors, flush the toilet, wash your car, or water your plants. If you live in an area of particularly high TDS, dilute the water a bit so you don’t get stains on your floors, toilet bowls or delicate fabrics because of high sodium, iron, or other content.

While the amount of waste water ejected by a RO is justified, letting it go waste completely is unjustified. Water scarcity is one of the major issues in many countries. If you are using a Reverse Osmosis Drinking Water System, the system will probably reject around 75% of water – so devise ways to use the water for good.