If you are concerned with contaminants such as excess fluoride in your home drinking and cooking water, you may be interested in using an under-sink Reverse Osmosis filtration system. These systems make sure that your water is squeaky-clean before it comes out of the tap, but there is a price and it may not be what you think.

Because they do not use electricity, and many brands of these filters are incredibly efficient, the replacement and operating costs seem quite minimal. However, these systems use a lot of water. Some of the most efficient ones can create up to 4 times as much waste water as they create drinking water. Fortunately, there are several creative solutions for reusing this water in order to be more efficient.

Zero-Waste System

Because of growing consumer concerns, some companies have developed Zero-Waste Reverse Osmosis systems. Instead of draining waste water, these systems use it by running a line back to the water heater. This allows the water that is used by the filter system to rinse and clean itself to be reused for other purposes throughout the home, such as bathing, laundry, and dish-washing.

Toilet Flushing

Some people have found success with running the drain line of the Reverse Osmosis system to a reservoir reserved for toilet flushing. This allows the waste water to be reused without it actually having to be potable, or safe for human consumption. This could be extremely helpful if you are concerned with the quality of the reclaimed water for things like bathing, because of a high fluoride content or other quality issues. 

Irrigation and Landscaping

One of the earliest uses that people have found for reusing reclaimed water from Reverse Osmosis systems is irrigating their lawns. This is still a great option for many people today, especially those with a large lawn to water, or a pond to fill. There are generally two ways of doing this. In one method, waste water is collected in a rain barrel outside of the kitchen and run by hose to the needed areas of the yard. In another method, the drain line is run straight from the filtration system to the area where the water is needed, such as a pond or an irrigation hose.

For many homes, Reverse Osmosis is a great way to provide safe, clean drinking water for the entire family. By choosing a viable option for reclaiming the waste water, it can be an economical and environmentally friendly one as well. If this seems like the right option for you, contact professionals, such as Anderson Water Systems.