I’m currently in the process of getting a whole home RO system to clean all this garbage out of my water, but I can’t do anything about the water my purchased fruits and vegetables are grown in nor the water the animals raised drinking.
>>> High-pressure membranes, such as nanofiltration or reverse osmosis, have been extremely effective at removing PFAS. Reverse osmosis membranes are tighter than nanofiltration membranes. This technology depends on membrane permeability. A standard difference between the two is that a nanofiltration membrane will reject hardness to a high degree, but pass sodium chloride; whereas reverse osmosis membrane will reject all salts to a high degree. This also allows nanofiltration to remove particles while retaining minerals that reverse osmosis would likely remove.
>>> Research shows that these types of membranes are typically more than 90 percent effective at removing a wide range of PFAS, including shorter chain PFAS.
https://www.epa.gov/sciencematters/reducing-pfas-drinking-wa...
I’ve got one set up for my drinking water and it’s 1:1, so a gallon of waste water for every useful gallon. Others use even more.
Obviously I don’t feel great about the waste, but I’ve got two kids under 6 and I’m trying to do what I can to avoid dosing them with this crap.
I do my best to make up for it in other ways - not watering any landscaping, scraping but not rinsing dishes, water off while brushing teeth/lathering hands, low flow shower heads and toilets, etc. But I'm not aware of another way to get sufficiently clean water.
The membranes you mention are permeable, basically, only to water. Salt ions are pretty small - if the membrane blocks salt ions, they're going to block just about any molecule [1].
1. for the most part. You can have a molecule that dissolves in the polymer membrane and therefore gets through. A great example is polymer self-diffusion itself (fairly slow) and very short chains of the polymer (faster). But, generally, polymers don't like to mix with anything but themselves (see Flory-Huggins and DeGennes).
Also potentially dangerous.
If you drink a gallon of distilled water all at once, it could screw up electrolyte balance. Screwy potassium levels can cause heart fibrillation.
I would guess that the risk of water that's coming from reverse osmosis is safe for routine use, in the context of a healthy diet.
People elsewhere do fluoride varnishes with their Dentists and that is absolutely fine and sufficient.
No it won't.
You get most of your minerals from your food, not your water. Distilled water has zero health effects.
Alas, I must concede the point: upon actual cursory research, drinking distilled water is NOT a health risk.
(I was once admitted to hospital because of crazy electrolyte levels, while presenting other symptoms as well. Is long story. Perhaps it's time for me to stop worrying about potassium...)
My family lived on distilled drinking water for years with no mineral deficiencies. RO water isn’t as deficient as distilled.
Do yourself a favor and calculate:
1) The specific minerals in the water you want to consume
2) The daily values for each of those minerals
3) Figure out the water you'd need to drink to meaningfully contribute towards hitting those DVs
Hint: It's in the tens to hundreds of gallons of water per day for tap water.
Filter the water and pop a multivitamin, expecting to get significant "minerals" from tap water is a joke.
Nonstick pans, food packaging, fish, microwave popcorn, waterproof clothes, contact lenses, and so many other products.
Key features
High efficiency
No need for water storage tank, but optional pressurized tank available
Real-time TDS monitoring via screen on RO unit and free Android/iOS apps.
I am willing to spend so much because of the high efficiency, live TDS monitoring and the $20 per month full maintenance plan.
Some of the higher end systems require a lot of fiddling and knowledge to run properly, and most plumbers where I live know next to nothing about whole home RO, so having the maintenance plan which covers, parts, labor and replacement filters is priceless in my book.
https://info.nsf.org/Certified/DWTU/Listings.asp?ProductFunc...
https://www.nsf.org/news/pfoa-pfos-reduction-claims-requirem...
P.S. Note the "facility" where these products are manufactured are also listed. One might also want to note that [replacement] filters may also have different country origins.