Reverse Osmosis vs. Ordinary Filters

Non-RO water filters are much less effective, and the pore size on these filter media are much bigger, generally 0.5-10 micron. They can filter out coarse particles, sediments and elements only up to their micron rating. Anything finer and most dissolved substances cannot be filtered out. As a result, water is far less clean and safe compared to reverse osmosis filtration.

For general water filtering methods to reduce both organic and inorganic loading to tolerable levels at lower energy costs, Reverse Osmosis (RO) offers significant advantages. It can accomplish the removal of many classes of contaminates to the desired degree of purity simultaneously. The significance of Reverse Osmosis (RO) is that it provides an additional processing tool with a broader capability.

U.S. Dept. of the Interior Publication, 24-000-00855-0