Caution in drinking RO or RO/DI water

Post by **snoopdog** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 7:19 pm

I have been feeling pretty sick lately and one of the many things I have changed was drinking bottled water, but then I would refill the bottles with RO/DI water from the house and drink that. The World Health Organization does not think too well of drinking non mineral water, particularly under 75 TDS, which mine is about 5 tds at the worse day.

http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_hea ... alized.pdf

Dxtr · Post by **Dxtr** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 7:57 pm

interesting.... my family has been refilling our water jug for the fridge for the last 6 months with the "waste" water from my RO/DI filter and haven't felt anything...other than refreshed from water tht doesn't taste funny...

dxtr

Amphiprion · Post by **Amphiprion** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 8:05 pm

It is not surprising at all. There are several reasons as far as I see it. some bacteria are still capable of living in the water and lines of the RO unit=sick. Also, because it has so few electrolytes in it, aquarium RO water will actually remove them from your body as it passes through, potentially dehydrating you. If you ever wish to drink RO water, it has to be inspected first, or you are at serious risk.

sb1227 · Post by **sb1227** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 9:08 pm

I think it's the deionized water thats not recommended for consumption...from what I understand it's basically worse than nothing. That may add to your comment about lack of electrolytes and dehydration.

Amphiprion · Post by **Amphiprion** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 9:16 pm

Yes, thank you, I meant RO/DI and DI water on the dehydration part. If you have an RO unit that can provide very pure water, that is also a problem, though. you should still have any home-based RO (used for drinking water) checked before you consume it, regardless of whether or not you may think it is safe. This is because of the growth of microorganisms

Post by **snoopdog** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 7:27 am

Well my thought was initially, it has to be better than the tap water at 175 tds, you would had thought anyway. This may not be why I have not been feeling well, but other reasons like changing my diet could have also caused it. Time to start eating like everyone else for a while.

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 7:37 am

I spoke to many specialist and it would take many gallons a day of "pure" water to cause any problems. I was worried of this at one time is why I looked into it.

Post by **snoopdog** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 10:34 am

Well that is the thing, for months now I have been drinking 4-8 9 fl/oz bottles of water a day. I did have the faucet before the DI cartride, but that does not say that water does not reverse back into the T.

Amphiprion · Post by **Amphiprion** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 10:41 am

It is just better (safer) to drink tapwater. I drink a lot of water (~180-200 oz per day), so I also looked at the purified water thing. Everyone I have spoken to (doctors, etc) and from everything I have read, it is not a good idea to drink completely demineralized water. Apparently, the WHO agrees that it is not such a good idea. Despite this, anyone can still drink it, I guess, but I know that I won't.

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 11:13 am

They said it will start lowering your electrolytes and sodium which can lead to problems. They also said something about potasium but I can not remember.

Post by **snoopdog** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 11:39 am

Here is another debate on the subject.

http://www.finishing.com/110/17.shtml

Wikipedia says this.

Ingestion of deionized water can cause osmotic shock and death.

Brandon · Post by **Brandon** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 12:11 pm

I can see where you would not want to drink water that goes through the DI filter, but not drinking reverse osmosis water?? Huh? Isn't most bottled "drinking water" filtered through reverse osmosis. I thought some municipal water systems use reverse osmosis for treatment, but I could be wrong.

Personally I'd rather not drink the extra arsenic or cryptosporidium or nitrates or god knows what that comes from the municipal system. I guess I am paranoid like that

Post by **snoopdog** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 12:39 pm

Yeah RO is not really a problem I believe, it is the fact there is no guarantee that my water is not leaching back from the way it is hooked up. I followed the guide from Spectrapure but there is no valve to block the DI unit from backup back into my storage cylinder.

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 12:58 pm

I have a check valve on mine so I make sure the DI can not back up.

Post by **snoopdog** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 1:48 pm

I am not even going to consider drinking it again, I will just drink Dasani.