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I’d like to take a few minutes today and discuss a topic that I’ve talked about for decades. At first, you might think it’s not very important. However, our way of thinking has a significant effect on many aspects of our lives. What in the world am I talking about?
Let’s discuss the difference between rinse water and waste water. Why, you might ask? More often than not, when certain companies or certain people try to disparage Reverse Osmosis systems, they bring up the concept of “waste water”.
„Rinse Water“ vs. “Waste Water”
First, let’s consider the meaning of the word “waste”. Depending upon the source of the definition, it can be considered “…any substance which is discarded after primary use, or is worthless, defective and of no use…” It can also be defined as “…unwanted matter or material of any type…”
Now let’s consider the word “rinse”. Again, depending upon your source, it can mean “…to cleanse by flushing with liquid, such as water”. Or “…to remove dirt or impurities by washing lightly…”
Let me pose a question to all of you: do you have a “waste” cycle on your washing machine or a “rinse” cycle? Does your automatic dishwasher have “waste” cycle or a “rinse” cycle? When you wash your hair during a shower, do you simply rinse the shampoo out of your hair or do you think of the water you’re using as “waste” water? When you brush your teeth, do you “rinse” and spit or do you “waste” and spit?
In the 40 years I’ve been working with water treatment, particularly purification, you cannot imagine how many thousands of times this issue has come up as a serious discussion point. There have been so many statements that go something like this: “I would never buy an RO unit because of all of the water that they waste!“ Yet those same people don’t even think about the water they use flushing the toilets, doing the laundry, washing the dishes, bathing the children, mopping the floor and the dozens of other ways we use “working water”. Remember, over 98% of the water going into the average home is working water!
Here is my point: By purchasing an AquaTru Reverse Osmosis Purification system, you are insuring that the water your entire family is drinking and consuming is of the highest quality! Yet, I still have people ask me “what about the waste water” the system produces?
Please consider this: To purify 1 gallon of “source” water, which almost invariably has unknown contaminants in it (regardless of the source) your AquaTru unit will produce only about 1/3 of a gallon of rinse water. Why is it rinse water? Because this water has “rinsed” the RO membrane of impurities. Contained in the rinse water could be traces of heavy metals; submicron bits of microplastics; traces of personal care products such as shampoo, detergents, etc.; traces of pharmaceuticals used by someone “upstream” of you and so many other substances that are not simply H20!
And yet the rinse water can, and depending upon you, should be re-used. You can use it to water your plants. I use the rinse water to top up my outdoor fish pond. Some people collect the rinse water and use it for mopping the floor. The uses are limited only by your imagination.
Please remember this water is actually “cleaner”, in many ways, than the source water! It has been filtered down to the micron level; it has been removed of virtually all chlorine and VOC’s. It is a fantastic source of working water.
So, please think of the “left-over” water in the back tank of your AquaTru unit as “rinse” water. That’s what it is. It is not worthless, unwanted or of no use! Don’t let anyone try to mislead you into thinking that R.O. purification “wastes” water. That’s just not the case.
Finally, we encourage all of you to stay grateful, stay healthy, stay happy and stay hydrated! If you’re not quite where you want to be yet, please let Water and Wellness assist you on this incredible and continuous journey of life.
Further Reading
He is a public speaker, author, trainer, certified nutritional consultant and past member of the WQA Board of Directors. He is also responsible for the first use of RO systems at the Olympic Games, which was in 1988 at the Seoul Summer Olympics.
