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A reminder that you can remove these and many other contaminants from your water with a simple undersink RO filter. They are quite inexpensive and start at abo
by JohnJamesRambo 7y ago
A reminder that you can remove these and many other contaminants from your water with a simple undersink RO filter. They are quite inexpensive and start at about $160 on Amazon for a lifetime of clean drinking and cooking water.
https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/list-of-household-filters-approved-for-certain-pfas-removal https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/list-of-household-filters-appr...
- intopieces 7y agoHow many gallons of water do you have to throw away to get 1 gallon of pure water with this system?
- goda90 7y agoLooks like 4 to 1. Not great, but probably not a huge hit if you hook it up only for drinking water. I wonder how hard it would be to pump that waste water to your toilet tanks instead.
- sparker72678 7y agoSome people just let it gravity drain to another container (inside or out) and then use it for outdoor watering. The flow rate & pressure is typically very low for the drain water with these systems, so you'd need another setup to handle pumping it to your toilet, etc. Sending it outside is probably the easiest way to immediately use it.
- goda90 7y agoUnfortunately some areas only have need for outdoor watering a few months of the year, so other uses might need to be found.
- ek750 7y agoyou can also pick an ro system with a permeate pump (https://www.purewaterproducts.com/articles/how-permeate-pumps-work https://www.purewaterproducts.com/articles/how-permeate-pump...) proper inlet pressure also improves efficiency.
- stamps 7y agoSome companies have 1:1, gallon of clean to gallon of waste. Here's one that's quite popular: https://www.theperfectwater.com/Home-Master-hydroperfection-Reverse-Osmosis-Water-Filtration-System.html https://www.theperfectwater.com/Home-Master-hydroperfection-...
- goda90 7y agoOut of curiosity, I looked up maintenance costs on RO filters. It looks like the filters that need replacing annually are $20-$30 for the set, and the membrane that needs to be replaced every 2-5 years is $30-$50.
- JohnJamesRambo 7y agoI’ve found those guidelines to be pretty conservative. I think I’ve maybe changed the membrane once. A simple TDS (total dissolved solids) meter can be had on Amazon for <$20 that tells you if the water quality is changing over time and it is time for a change.
- blaser-waffle 7y agoShifting the costs to the consumer -- standard externality game.
- WWLink 7y agoKinda like the companies that produce really gross chemicals and make the owner millions, only to become superfund sites that get cleaned up with taxpayer money many years later? :D
- driverdan 7y agoPFAS can be filtered by simple activated carbon filters. You don't need RO. They can be absorbed through the skin so if you really want to avoid them you need a whole house filter.
- chrisjc 7y agoI've heard this also removes many essential minerals that we get from water?
- abandonliberty 7y agoYes, googling "reverse osmosis demineralized water" provides many options to add minerals back in. The WHO stated that demineralized water is unsuitable for long term drinking due to the lack of minerals. Not sure how significant this is or how many minerals you can get from diet instead of water.
- benmccann 7y agoHere's the WHO report for folks who are interested: https://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/nutrientschap12.pdf https://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/nutrientscha...
- nate_meurer 7y agoDrinking water typically does not provide significant quantities of any essential minerals. For example, the USGS threshold for "hard" water (heavily mineral-laden) is 120 ppm of combined calcium and magnesium carbonates. At that level, drinking the recommended two liters a day would only give you a few percentage points of your required daily intake of elemental calcium and magnesium.