RO Water? Now to the unintiated, RO = Reverse Osmosis.
Firstly, let's see what Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_osmosis ) says...
"Reverse osmosis is a filtration process typically used for water. It works by using pressure to force a solution through a membrane, retaining the solute on one side and allowing the pure solvent to pass to the other side. This is the reverse of the normal osmosis process, which is the natural movement of solvent from an area of low solute concentration, through a membrane, to an area of high solute concentration when no external pressure is applied. "For a more detailed explanation, pls goto http://chemistry.about.com/od/waterchemistry/a/reverseosmosis.htm
Well, that settles the explanatory part. Now what is this post all about?
Simply this...we can see a lot of such RO Water Dispensing Booths sprouting up everywhere in almost every town/city, right? One can purchase 500ml of such water for 10 sen or 20sen/litre.
The question is...Are we getting our money's worth? Are we truly getting RO water or just plain filtered water? Fyi our eyes cannot detect the difference between the two!! Both look clean & clear...
From what I've found out through a phone call to a staff of WaterShop ie one of the companies putting up such RO dispensing booths, the RO water dispensed by their machines should contain less than 5ppm of dissolved solids. Do you know that? Or could you even know?
Nope. No, you would not. Not unless you are in posssession of & carry around with you one of those simple (but expensive) TDS meters (TDS = Total Dissolved Solids) for measuring that value of dissolved substances in water....
Yup, I happened to have bought 1 such meter. Pls see pic on left.
To cut a long story short, I opted to buy the meter & source my RO water supply from those public water dispensing booths. Reason? Simple. An RO system for the home costs abt RM2k+...cash!! Which me not can spare...hehe...at that point in time...
But the TDS meter? Only RM90. With it me feel safe cos me can test the quality of the water from those dispensing booths. Moreover at the tortoise-paced rate that these 2 inmates of Lot 10 use water for consumption, our expenses would never ever reach the RM2k+ cost of getting one of those home units, not considering & excluding the cost of maintenance eg replacement of filters & the membrane etc.
Let us make it clear that when the dispensers were first put up within Alor Star, the water dispensed then were of good RO water quality...showing a reading of "000"ppm on my TDS meter ie less than 10ppm. My TDS meter shows readings in x10ppm.
However, of late...practically all of the supposedly RO water dispensing machines that I've gone to, are now dispensing water almost equivalent to the filtered water that I get in my own home via a simple Panasonic water filter. Reading? 30 - 40 ppm. ( Note: Reading for my home filtered water is 40ppm )
Recently ie from last year, I was left with only 1 source...a machine at PSK. But now...in 2009...this machine has started dispensing water quality of 10ppm & above or less than 20ppm!! And the quality, as stated to me by their supplier/HQ in Penang ( cust service line @ 016-2299616 ), is supposed to be less than 5ppm!! So is there any hint of "Fraud" or "Cheating"...???
So, please, please...the next time you do get your supply of supposedly clear & clean RO water from such public dispensing machines, please hesitate...pause awhile...think...are you getting what you paid for? What assurances do you have that you are being supplied what you are paying for?
Let's all ensure that we do get our hard-earned money's worth, ok? At least what we are paying for...RO Water!! Not just ordinary plain filtered water...which we can already get in our own homes ( kinda like FOC ? Most of us already have 1 kind or another of sediment filters installed, right?) !!
For more info on TDS meters & how they work :
1. http://www.waterfiltersonline.com/water-tests.asp
2. http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-04/rhf/feature/index.php
No comments:
Post a Comment