Before it comes into your home, the water that flows through your pipes first passes through a local water treatment facility. The water undergoes many different forms of treatment before it reaches your plumbing, such as flocculation and coagulation to remove dirt and other dissolved particles, sedimentation to get rid of the floc, filtration for any additional particles and bacteria, and chemical disinfection.

However, the chemicals added to the water during this treatment process may invoke health issues in those that are sensitive to chemicals. Besides, the water can pick up a few more contaminants on the trip to your home, and municipal water treatment might not get rid of every potential problem.

A reverse osmosis system is a type of filter that a technician installs at an entry point in your water supply to filter out many of the contaminants that could otherwise infiltrate your plumbing system. It uses pressure to push water through a semi-permeable membrane so that only nearly pure water can make its way through. Here are some of the contaminants that a reverse osmosis system can take care of.

• Fluoride: Often, the public water supply is treated with fluoride to ensure the dental health of every member of the community. However, many homeowners do not feel they need any added chemicals to prevent cavities, and over-fluoridation may be linked to some illnesses.
• Salt: Reverse osmosis was actually originally utilized by scientists for the purposes of desalination, removing salt from seawater. Therefore, reverse osmosis systems are quite effective at removing salt from water, and are some of the only filtration systems capable of doing so.
• Bacteria and Viruses: Reverse osmosis systems can take care of bacteria or other microorganisms in the water supply that could make you or your family members feel ill.
• Additional Chemical Contaminants: Some additional contaminants may be removed by reverse osmosis as well, including metal ions like chromium, copper, and lead. Reverse osmosis may reduce the levels of arsenic, nitrates and phosphorous as well, and some of the minerals known to cause hard water.

Call the team at Lifeline Plumbing to schedule your reverse osmosis system installation in Aurora today. You’ll be glad you did!