About the 4-5 gallons of “waste” — that is high and a proper RO design should limit that to about 2.5 – 3 gallons, depending on pressure. Keep in mind this is a tremendously economical way to have a huge impact on purity. 99% pure by an RO filter is not accurate – even the very best RO filters only get about 95% in the real world. And a budget system from costco not only needs frequent replacement of all filters, the purification drops off quickly over the 6-month cycle.

Drinking pure RO or RO/DI water will NOT pull minerals from your body – this is not phyiologically possible unless you eat NO food and have kidney problems. There are many places on the planet with drinking water supplies with almost no mineral content and those populations are suffering as a result. (Vancouver BC for example) Mountain streams and lakes are often very low in mineral content, but well water can be high. The amount of trace minerals in water is not a constant.

As for RO waste water re-use — be sure not to run the tubing for too long a distance. The back-pressure will reduce the effectiveness of the RO filter.

I don’t make water all the time like you though, so I can stop the filter when the waste water tank is full.

You can purchase float values that will turn the filter off when the waste tank is full and you can also hook multiple trashcans together using some PVC piping to give you more waste water containment. I’ve even seen people use PVC so the waste can only fills to a certain level than anything over that goes in the drain.

Mine is very simple and manual. Plan to “automate” it a little more once we get our new home.

@Carrie – Evian is my favorite as well, but it’s expensive!

Regarding bottled water – my husband travels for work, and he only purchases Evian water. We have observed that other brands that we have tried often come out of the bottle with a funny taste, and particularly, Evian is the only brand we’ve found that doesn’t acquire an off flavor when it heats up (like it would in a vehicle or in the sun).

There are some expensive whole house filters that we’ve looked at, but it’s hard to swallow spending $6,000 on a filtering system, even when there are health benefits to not washing our selves or our stuff in such chemical-laden water!

I had an RO filtration system installed when we had our kitchen remodeled about 4 years ago. It was the first decision I made and the first purchase I made regarding the remodel. I bought it from Costco — can’t remember the name. I have to change the filters every 6 months. The plumber who installed it was on the ball and offered to locate the tank in the basebment laundry room directly under the kitchen instead of under the kitchen sink. Not only do I still have all of my under-sink space, but the water is cool in the summer because the tank is in the basement.

Installing this system is hands-down one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I drink nothing but water and I’m very, very picky about the water I drink. I buy bottled water only when necessary (away from home) and I cannot stand the taste of tap water.

I’d love to hear more about how you rigged your RO wastewater system though. I hate the fact that I waste so much water and would love to find a way to reclaim and reuse ours.

@Shanti – Don’t worry, I just think Wordpress gets hungry sometimes and eats comments. It happens every once in a while!

(Don’t know why it cut off!)

ANYWAY *ahem*

I grew up on filtered water. In the 70s my parents bought a water filter for something like $1000 and it was awesome. They had to replace the filter every year, and the water was delicious. I don’t think I’ve ever had non-filtered water in my home. That being said, I also never had bottled water because I always had access to filtered water. Here in Seattle we have fantastic water that comes from the mountains and they don’t put much in it (I’ve had the water in other states… BLEH. Particularly Illinois and Nevada. BLEH!). On my own, I have a Brita now and love it. My boyfriend and best friend and mom all have filters too, so… I always have fresh water! Yours is a clever solution – if the water here was horrible,

Best Wishes,
D4L