Should You Purchase a GE Reverse Osmosis Water System?

What is the technology behind the GE reverse osmosis water system? Is it really the best drinking water filtration system money can buy? Maybe you won't think so after you have read this article.
A GE reverse osmosis water purification system uses a semi-permeable membrane for reverse osmosis. This membrane separates two water chambers, one with untreated water under pressure, and one with purified water.

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Water molecules and other molecules that are smaller in size than water molecules move through the membrane to the purified side of the membrane. This blocks contaminants whose molecular size is greater than water, such as organic compounds and biological contaminants. Unfortunately it also removes minerals from the water. It turns out that those minerals are actually good for you! We humans are designed to drink water that naturally contains minerals. Our bodies rely on them for our continued good health. In fact, the world health organization warns against the health risks from implementing water desalination treatment systems that completely de-mineralize seawater water. De-mineralized water does not contain adequate levels of some essential nutrients.

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Another concern is that the GE reverse osmosis water membrane does not remove contaminants that have a smaller molecular size than water, such as chlorine and the related contaminants trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs). Chlorine, THMs and HAAs are thought by the EPA to cause cancer and other adverse health effects. So to get around this drawback the GE reverse osmosis filters contains two additional carbon filters to remove these and other contaminants that aren't removed by reverse osmosis.

You can purchase a stand-alone carbon filtration system for a fraction of the cost of a GE reverse osmosis water filter system. Stand-alone carbon filtration systems leave essential mineral nutrients in the water where they belong. And it turns out that carbon filtration systems are very good at removing the contaminants that are removed by reverse osmosis, as well as contaminants that are not, such as chlorine, THMs and HAAs.

So you have to ask yourself, why bother with the reverse osmosis part of the process when it results in de-mineralized water? Why pay for the extra step of reverse osmosis when a carbon filtration system does the same thing? Those are very good questions. I guess the answer is, GE reverse osmosis filters are not worth the investment when you can get high quality filtered water using carbon-filtered water purification systems.

Should You Purchase a GE Reverse Osmosis Water System?

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