fredethomas said:
First - This is from a newspaper article in the Sierra Vista Herald. I am making no judgement - don't know how accurate it is. Please don't shoot the messanger!
"Traditional purifiers using the reverse osmosis process remove beneficial minerals along with other dissolved solids from the water which results in a dramatic pH reduction that has been linked to health issues such as calcium loss, kidney stones and osteoporosis."
I wouldn't even consider this to be of any concern at all. First, when you reduce the TDS (total dissolved solids) in a water, as an RO does, you do not drastically reduce the pH. The pH reduction which was reported is most likely do to improper handling of the water sample during testing. When the TDS of the water is reduced, it becomes essentially an unbuffered solution. As such, it very susceptible large pH swings when a little bit of acidity is added. In this case once the RO water is sampled, it IMMEDIATELY starts to adsorb carbon dioxide from the air, which immediately forms carbonic acid. Iin an unbuffered water this can depress the pH to less than 5--just like Club Soda. (Can't remember exactly how low CO2 can depress the pH, but is quit a bit, 4.3 seems to come to mind.) If it is tested in a TOTALLY closed system without any exposure to the air, immediately after passing through the RO, the pH will be around 6.8.
The amount of minerals removed from drinking water by an RO is insignificant when you consider the amount of the same minerals that are normally ingested in food during the day.
I'd not give it another though--says I--as I'm just now taking a drink from my glass of RO watter.
Are you aware that most of the "bottled water" sold by the companies such as Coke, is local water, run through an RO and carbon filter, to produce a constant "perceived taste" across the entire country?
Chet18013