11. Reverse Osmosis: Once “The Best,” Now Obsolete?

Is reverse osmosis still the gold standard for water filtration? In this episode of The Toxic Truth About Water, Drs. Glenn and Ina expose the pros and cons of RO systems—how they excel at removing contaminants but also strip essential minerals, waste gallons of water, and demand high maintenance. Tune in for a balanced look at why RO gained its stellar reputation, why it might no longer live up to the hype, and what to consider if you already have one installed.

What You’ll Learn

1. RO Basics:
   • How the semi-permeable membrane removes nearly all contaminants—and why that includes beneficial minerals.
2. Benefits & Drawbacks:
   • The upside of ultra-pure water vs. potential health concerns from mineral deficiency and wasted water.
3. Whole House Challenges:
   • Why large-scale RO systems are costly, complicated, and not always practical.
4. Maintenance Must-Knows:
   • Frequent filter changes and sanitization are essential to avoid biofouling and preserve water quality.

Key Takeaways

1. Removes “Too Much?” RO water is incredibly pure but can leave your body craving essential minerals.
2. Waste & Upkeep: Expect gallons of wastewater per gallon of filtered water, plus ongoing filter replacements and tank sanitization.
3. Whole House Woes: Whole-house RO systems require big budgets and complex setups—often impractical for most homes.
4. Better Options Ahead: Keep listening—next episodes (and bonus content) will unveil more modern solutions that balance purity and health.

Resources & Links

• Read the Book:
  • The Toxic Truth About Water – E-Book & Paperback
• Connect with Drs. Glenn & Ina:
  • Call Us Today: (732) 300-1925
  • Instagram: @drsglennandina

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Transcript

Glenn: 0:00

Welcome to the Toxic Truth About Water. We're Drs. Glenn and Ina, and in this podcast, we're uncovering the hidden dangers lurking in your water, and how those contaminants impact your health.

Ina: 0:11

After decades of exploring natural health, we've learned the importance of clean, safe water. And we're here to share that knowledge with you. From the effects of toxins and contaminants to the solutions that you need. We've got the inside scoop. So let's dive in.

Glenn: 0:28

All right.

Ina: 0:29

Diving in. All right. So today we are talking about reverse osmosis. And before we share what is that? I want to just preface this with reverse osmosis. It used to be, I always say, it used to be the cat's meow when it comes to, or when it came to water filtration. And as we've been exploring, we've shared a lot of the different types of contaminants to be concerned about. We're talking about the various options, like what do you do now that what do you do? And one of the most popular filtration methods out there is something that we had in our home. Oh gosh, 25 plus years ago. And it's reverse osmosis as I mentioned. So first of all, again, it used to be the cat's meow and we're going to share with you, the good, the bad and the ugly, okay? What's good about RO, what's not so good because we want to give you the whole picture and we want you guys to understand that perhaps this is very antiquated.

Glenn: 1:40

Remember, the goal is to do the best you can with the latest information, with the latest technology that's available. And so while things may be popular, it doesn't really matter if they're popular, they may not really do the job that we need them to do, is really what it comes down to.

Ina: 1:59

And that's, having said that, 25 years ago when we were filtering our water in our home in New Jersey, It was a little different than it is now, right? As time goes on, there's different types of contaminants that we need to be concerned about. And again, as different technology develops, perhaps there's better ways. So here's the thing, and we say it a lot, any filtration is better than no filtration. And if you're somebody that has a reverse osmosis system, either just for your drinking water or for your whole house, we don't want you to feel like, oh my gosh, I'm doing something wrong. Because the truth is, Reverse osmosis does remove the majority of contaminants. It really does, and we want that, right?

Glenn: 2:45

many ways, it's excellent technology. So we should start by just, let's talk about what is reverse osmosis. And basically, it's a multi stage purification or filtration system that your water can go through. It is most commonly, by far, used on a single faucet situation, usually for drinking water only.

Ina: 3:07

Now what's happening is there's a semi permeable membrane that water is pushing through where it's retaining, holding back, all of the contaminants. However, It's also holding back the minerals. So everything is being filtered when it comes to reverse osmosis.

Glenn: 3:27

So again, it's that the major thing that sets it apart is the semi permeable membrane that the water is being forced against. basically the only thing that can get through is pure water on the other side. Minus. The minerals and everything, that's how powerful it is at capturing and taking everything out of the water. But that can be a negative, of course, and we'll discuss that as we go on. The biggest issue is it's a multi stage unit, and in a general sense, it's the semi permeable membrane with carbon filtration before it and after it. That's really what it is and that's very effective in many ways But there are some negatives and especially when we're talking about water in a general sense and how we consume It's not just drinking water that we need to be concerned with,

Ina: 4:14

right? Yeah, so let's you know, talk about some of these things. The absolute benefit of reverse osmosis is that it does remove the majority of the contaminants. So when we're talking about healthier water, less toxic water, then yes, it is absolutely an option. And again, if that's something that you're already using in your home, we don't want you to walk away from this episode feeling oh geez, I got to go replace it. No, it's just some information to think with if you haven't. your water yet, you may consider that this may not be the best option. Let's talk about the drawback. As we said, it removes minerals along with the unhealthy toxins and in nature. And I always go back to what did nature intend? What does nature provide? And when water is, traveling through, Lakes and streams and it's rubbing rocks and picking up all that rich mineral content, that's what our bodies need and want. That's what nature provided. So when we're talking about removing minerals now, that's something that we need to think with because

Glenn: 5:26

you were changing the water.

Ina: 5:27

We're creating dead water like distilled water, similar. We're just creating dead water and I just want to share this and then we'll go on to some of the other Drawbacks to reverse osmosis, but according to the World Health Organization Drinking pure RO water can lead to adverse health effects such as muscle fatigue cramps, body aches, and memory loss, and this is due to mineral deficiencies that can occur when minerals are removed from the water by these reverse osmosis filters. So just keep that in mind, and that's, one of our big concerns as health professionals that we want. those minerals in our water. So let's talk about some of the other downsides to it.

Glenn: 6:11

So one thing is reverse osmosis in, since you're only doing it against this little semi permeable membrane, it's literally creating purified water drop by drop and then filling in most cases a tank. However, there is new technology that has RO that is tankless as well. But that's pretty new. most people are familiar with a tank under their sink and like a four or five stage reverse osmosis

Ina: 6:38

you mean like carbon filtration on the side.

Glenn: 6:41

Yeah. It's the carbon and the semi permeable membrane The whole thing is on the side the tank that holds that purified water needs to be in there, too So that's the whole thing You don't have water until that tank is filled up enough for you to draw from and then once it is it's adding water As it needs to constantly

Ina: 6:57

right so it takes up a lot of room. Yeah under our cabinet, New Jersey we basically had that and we could fit, our dish detergent and, some little things, but it does take up a lot of space, which okay, fine, if it's, so beneficial, but here's some downsides. I just want to say the other thing, as

Glenn: 7:15

that water hits that membrane. Okay, great. So the purified, minus the mineral water comes out the other side, but what happens to the rest of the water that didn't get through the membrane?

Ina: 7:25

So a ton of wastewater,

Glenn: 7:27

exactly.

Ina: 7:28

every gallon of that filtered reverse osmosis water, It could be one, two, three, or more gallons of wasted water. So imagine just to get one gallon of good, clean, filtered water, we're wasting so much. So that, is one of the drawbacks.

Glenn: 7:46

And it's one of the reasons we rarely see people apply this in a whole house system, because the time to fill a tank that large would take a long time, but that's fine. If you had time, you could do it. The problem is it's large. It's be like putting, like a refrigerator sized tank outside your house, along with a large reverse osmosis contraption that requires a lot of maintenance,

Ina: 8:10

a lot of electricity and changes,

Glenn: 8:13

You're just constantly having to change filters,

Ina: 8:16

And we'll touch on that whole house. reverse osmosis filtration system. Again, a lot of people don't have those because they're extremely expensive. It's like having a laboratory on the side of your home. So imagine if we're wasting that much water from a, under the sink, reverse osmosis with whole house, it's a ton of wastewater. So water bills get really high. Electric bills get really high because that's all, plugged into electricity. Typically, that's a 500 gallon tank that, in order to have enough water to, have that water being showered with and dish all the water in your home when you have that whole house reverse osmosis system. And by the way, those systems multi thousands of dollars a good whole house reverse osmosis system is going to start somewhere around 15 grand upwards of 30, 000 to do that. So not practical and really not optimal. So again, drawbacks taken out the minerals. a lot of water. As Glenn mentioned, there's a ton of maintenance to reverse osmosis. So even if we just talk under the sink, which is what most people have, you gotta change the filters quite frequently and it will vary from It's brand to brand, the different systems that are out there, but sometimes every six months nine months, a year. So again, a lot of maintenance. And the other thing that I want to talk about is the biofouling, right? So within a tank, you have water and you have air. Biofouling is when microorganisms, whether it's bacteria, mold is growing within. a water filtration system, and it's very common with reverse osmosis, and you have to sanitize it quite frequently. So for people that, especially if you're not using the water as frequently, let's say you go away on a vacation, go away for a weekend, down here there's a lot of snowbirds, you come back, that water's been sitting in the tank. You need to clean that, to not just drain it, but you need to clean and sanitize the tank.

Glenn: 10:19

that usually has to be done professionally. And you can't get into these tanks yourself, they're sealed so it becomes and it's a maintenance thing that's important and yet most people on these systems don't even do I'm glad you brought it up because here you're working so hard to purify your water and imagine just the holding tank producing, biofouling where you're getting bacteria back into your water that you were working so hard to get rid of.

Ina: 10:45

Yep, absolutely. The technology is antiquated. It is getting out the contaminants, but there's a lot of downside water being wasted, a lot of maintenance and for us, especially taking out those minerals when there's better ways, obviously we're going to be talking about better ways. But we wanted to bring to your attention because it is something that's commonly used. We had one when we were in New Jersey. In fact, when we moved to Florida, we put A similar system in to what we had in New Jersey, but we did add. a softener because down here the water's harder. We did speak to you guys about softeners in a previous episode, but we ripped it all out.

Glenn: 11:25

we also had a remineralization. So those who have reverse osmosis are smart to have remineralization. Now it's controversial only because How are you reintroducing those minerals? It's usually a cartridge, and to be honest with you, who knows how long they last? You have no way of really knowing. They give a, just a general timeline, and then you change it. But the idea is, since you took those minerals out, we need to put them back in, because the theory is, over time, and Ina touched on it earlier, if you're just drinking a lot of RO water, the body then begins to look for those minerals. That's the natural, it's the natural draw. It looks for those minerals. If those minerals like calcium and magnesium are in your bones and things like that. So

Ina: 12:10

it's going to pull from bones. It will pull from teeth enamel. Again it's not necessarily the healthiest thing to drink water that's not naturally mineralized. And it is and it should be and we shouldn't be taking that out. So that's, our biggest takeaway for you guys. Having said all that, the, conclusion to this episode, we are going to be talking about let me just share this, we're wrapping up the next episode will be the final episode of our series, and then we're going to have a couple of bonus episodes that we will have for you, and as time goes on, when we feel like there's something That we wanna share with you. We'll record more episodes in the future, but we have planned these 12 episodes. So this is number 11. Then we'll have 12 and then those couple of bonus episodes. But a lot of people, as we mentioned, we have had people reaching out to us. And by the way, feel free to go to our website, the Toxic Truth Info. We actually have a book now, the Toxic Truth About Water. E book and paperback. Where was I going? What was I going to say? I just lost my thought. Oh, that's right, sorry. People have been asking because, we're sharing so much information about what is our recommendation, and we are going to share our recommendation, but we didn't want that to be part of the series. This, the purpose of this series is bringing the awareness, right? We have a problem, we have a big problem at hand. What are the options out there? And we'll definitely be sharing what we feel is, in our opinion, right now, the best option. But, certainly there's a lot of options out there. And we're really just wanting you guys to have the consciousness, the awareness, to know what to do to move forward to protect yourself and to protect your families.

Glenn: 13:55

So again, just to wrap up in this particular episode about reverse osmosis, remember in almost every application, it's not a whole house solution. It's a drinking water solution and it can be okay. We pointed out some of the negatives. There are definitely major benefits as well. But one of the key negatives for us is that it isn't treating your whole house and we spend lots of time bathing, washing and using water outside of usually that particular faucet. And so that's the thing to keep in mind as well.

Ina: 14:27

Absolutely. All right. So we're gonna, wrap today's episode up and we want to thank you guys so much for tuning in to this episode of the Toxic Truth About Water. We do hope that you're walking away with valuable insights on how to protect yourself and your loved ones from hidden water toxins.

Glenn: 14:48

And if you found value in today's episode, just be sure to subscribe and don't miss any of our future upcoming episodes, including those bonus episodes. And so as always, feel free to share the podcast with anybody you think could benefit from this information. And until the next time, remember, we're in this together, everybody. So keep questioning, keep learning, stay healthy, stay informed and much love to you guys.

Ina: 15:12

Bye.