What Does Reverse Osmosis Remove?
Whether you just bought a house or are thinking of starting a family, having a reverse osmosis system installed in your home can bring peace of mind. But what does reverse osmosis remove?
Posted in
Bad Tasting Water,
Commercial Products,
Contaminant,
Culligan Nation,
Culligan Solutions,
Drinking Water,
Drinking Water System,
Healthy Body,
Healthy Life,
Home & Health,
Lead,
Tap Water,
Water Problems,
Water Treatment
What does reverse osmosis remove?
Few systems totally remove all contaminants, but RO can significantly reduce some of the most dangerous impurities. Here is a list of contaminants a Culligan reverse osmosis (RO) will minimize.
Whether you own a house, have a family, or just care about your health, having a reverse osmosis system installed in your home can bring peace of mind. But what does reverse osmosis remove?*
1. Lead
This contaminant has made national headlines, and for good reason: there is no safe level of lead exposure, especially for children, who can suffer detrimental effects that range from stomach pain to brain damage.
You cannot see it, smell it or taste it. The only way to know that lead isn't in your water is to test for it.
Purchasing a reverse osmosis system, however, is a sure-fire way to significantly reduce lead in your water. Additionally, replacing lead pipes and fixtures in your home and changing your faucet screens, can help minimize lead intake.2. Mercury
This popular thermometer solution has lost favor as its harmful effects have become more well known. Too much mercury in the body can damage the brain, kidneys, or even a developing fetus.
Mercury found in water comes from the natural degassing of the earth's crust and from human activities such as burning fossil fuels. It can circulate in the global atmosphere for months, and eventually make its way inland, settling in lakes, rivers and streams.
3. Turbidity
Turbidity is a key test of water quality. This is the cloudiness or haziness in water is caused by the build-up of very small particles. Turbidity is usually caused by high sediment levels, which enter bodies of water from storm water runoff.
The higher the turbidity level in drinking water, the greater chance consumers have of developing gastrointestinal diseases.
4. Aesthetic Chlorine
While aesthetics are not necessarily health-related, they can affect the taste and odor of your water. If you don't want your water tasting or smelling like chlorine, an RO can take care of that.
5. Aesthetic Chloramines
The same goes for chloramines. Chloramines are a derivative of ammonia, and can contribute to an altered taste or smell in your drinking water.
6. Cysts
Giardia and cryptosporidium cysts can cause severe gastrointestinal illness, including cramps, vomiting and diarrhea. While both can be removed by boiling water, an RO does the trick without the hassle.
7. Sediment
These are the dirt and rocks from lakes, rivers and streams that cause turbidity. It has no health effects but can carry other containments. 
8. Volatile Organic Compounds
VOCs usually end up in groundwater from products such as oil, gasoline, cleaners and paints.VOCs soak into the ground and can end up in nearby wells, contaminating drinking water.
They are particularly harmful to nursing and pregnant mothers.
Common VOCs are PCE, which is used for dry cleaning and metal degreasing and is suspected to cause cancer; TCE, which is used for cleaning metal parts; and Toluene a glue solvent.
9. Particulate Class 1
This is the rust, dirt, sand and sediment that can make water smell dirty, look cloudy, and taste poorly. A "particulate class" is the particle size a filter can remove. A Culligan RO can filter particulates down to 1 micron in size and significantly reduces this contaminant.
10. Over 90 Other Contaminants
A Culligan Reverse Osmosis drinking water system is certified to reduce every EPA-regulated contaminant, more than 100 in total. In comparison to popular pitcher or faucet filters, its filtration power is unmatched.
Is Reverse Osmosis right for you? Get a water test.
RO is a powerful method for water filtration there's plenty of information on how it works.
Your local Culligan Water expert is trained and equipped to collect a water sample and send it to our EPA-certified lab for analysis. Schedule a water test today and see how we can meet your needs.
*Contaminants may not be in your water. Culligan reverse osmosis systems can reduce contaminants by up to 99.9%