You know that you love your reverse osmosis water. It makes your coffee and tea taste great and your kids love it for their drink mixes. You even use it with all-purpose cleaner to spot clean around the house, but is it effective against germs and bacteria?
Does RO Water Eliminate Bacteria? Reverse osmosis water in itself is not a disinfectant and does not effectively eliminate bacteria or germs. But the process of reverse osmosis is highly effective at the removal of bacteria and similar organisms.
The fact that reverse osmosis water is very pure makes it ideal for many things other than just drinking. But if eliminating bacteria or germs is your goal, we will have to use a little more than just reverse osmosis water.
How does reverse osmosis remove bacteria from water?
A reverse osmosis system uses a semi-permeable membrane to filter out very small particles and dissolved solids from water.
A bacteria is large enough to not be able to pass through this membrane, and therefore it gets rinsed away to the drain.
A reverse osmosis membrane is highly effective at removing bacteria from your water, providing that it has not been damaged by chemicals or sediment in the water.
Changing your reverse osmosis sediment filter and carbon filters regularly will improve your reverse osmosis systems’ ability to remove bacteria that may be present in your water.
A membrane that is more than 2 years old or has been exposed to sediment or corrosive chemicals like chlorine may not be filtering your water as it should.
This can lead to bacteria getting through your systems membrane and into the water that you drink.
Checking your reverse osmosis water with a TDS Meter regularly can help to determine if your reverse osmosis membrane is functioning properly.
The Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) coming from your reverse osmosis system, should be about 10% or less of the Total Dissolved Solids that are present in your regular tap water.
Why doesn’t reverse osmosis water eliminate bacteria?
Bacteria is an organic material that can not be destroyed by filtration alone.
Although a reverse osmosis membrane is highly effective at removing bacteria from water, it does not destroy it.
Can bacteria grow in reverse osmosis water?
As far as I have found, bacteria can grow in reverse osmosis water, just as it can in regular tap water.
The lack of dissolved solids in reverse osmosis water does not make it a more sterile environment, and therefore bacteria can develop. (Source)
How can you eliminate bacteria?
Boiling Water:
Before we knew about bacteria in water, we knew that some water would make you sick, and boiling water was the only way to make water safe to drink.
Boiling water is still a very common and reliable way to make water safe to consume.
Chlorination/Bleach:
Chlorine is a disinfectant that is highly effective at eliminating bacteria or other undesirable organisms from water.
It is widely used in municipal water supplies for water purification, because of its ease of use and inexpensive cost.
Chlorine is also very popular for use as a water disinfectant because it is considered to be very safe to use for everyday disinfection needs.
Hydrogen peroxide:
Hydrogen peroxide is a readily available disinfectant in diluted form. It is commonly found in a 10% strength which is adequate for first aid purposes and household cleaning.
It works very much in the same way as chlorine but is better for certain applications.
Structured Silver:
Structured silver is very effective at eliminating un-wanted bacteria from the human body and surfaces. It can be used internally or in a liquified form on the outside of the body for disinfecting areas where bacteria have formed.
Structured silver is very easy to take. You can find it in a liquid daily supplement like this one that I found on Amazon. Recommended structured silver liquid daily supplement.
Water purification tablets:
Using water purification tablets is a great way to make questionable water safe for drinking.
They are very easy to use and can be found in most local sporting goods stores, or you can get these highly recommended water purification tablets that I found online.
These water purification tablets that I found on Amazon are a great value and are very effective.
Water purification tablets are only to be used when needed in situations where safe drinking water is not available. They are not for regular use as they can also eliminate good bacteria in the body.
Prescription drugs:
Naturally, if you get a bacterial infection of some sort, your doctor will prescribe antibiotics for you to take that will eliminate the harmful bacterias that are making you sick.
Antibiotics like Penicillin are considered to be safe to use and will eliminate bacteria from the body.
Does reverse osmosis water disinfect surfaces?
The process of reverse osmosis does not add any disinfecting qualities to water, it simply removes unwanted impurities like minerals from water.
Although this does not make reverse osmosis water a disinfectant, it does make it a very pure cleaner.
By adding some concentrated all-purpose cleaner disinfectant to reverse osmosis water, you can make your own disinfecting cleaner for a fraction of the price of pre-mixed cleaners.
Can I use reverse osmosis water as a cleaner?
Because reverse osmosis water is so pure, it can dissolve minerals very well, and won’t leave deposits of minerals behind as easily as regular tap water.
If you need to dilute a cleaner or mix a dry cleaner with water, reverse osmosis water should work very well.
Use a small amount of ammonia mixed with reverse osmosis water for a streak-free and inexpensive glass cleaner.
Just add 2 tablespoons of ammonia to 2 quarts of reverse osmosis water, give it a quick stir, and pour it into an empty spray bottle. Be sure to label the spray bottle for future use.
Do the same with regular white vinegar to create a non-abrasive cleaner for hard water stains and scuff marks.
