RO/DI waste water dumped in your yard puts it right back into nature from whence it came. You're only "really" adding to the problem if you run it down your drain if it is run to a sewage plant where they spend major resources cleaning your clean water.. (which if you have a septic isn't the case) You still have the "how it got to your house" side, but your cutting it in half by not sending it back.
How clean is RO/DI waste water?
- Thread starter bamf25
- Start date
leedoherty
New member
I run my waste into a water butt for the plants not that i ever use it
Its always raining in the uk
Its always raining in the uk
reefsurfing
New member
I have my ro/di setup attached to my washer connections and I simply run my waste into my washing machine, then, I do a load of laundry.
TDS of 9?! Wow. Mine will creep UP to 9 on the output when my DI is exhausted. Amazing. My tap TDS is in the 400-500 range though. I use my waste to fill the resivoir on my EarthBox veggie planters year round. The rest is used for laundry, cleaning, dogs, and anything else I can think of at the time. Not much ends up going down the drain.
steamman
Member
If that were true then wouldn't we would all be getting sick from our refrigerator filters and any other tap water filters we use around the house?
steamman
Member
Keep in mind that water is the least expensive item in this hobby, so RO waste is a minimal cost. Add to that the fact that a 10 minutes shower uses more water than most units waste in a week and you can see how minimal the effect is of any conservation of the waste water.
The idea is great. But you can get better returns elsewhere in your home for less effort. Putting a flow restrictor on that shower for example.
Jeff
It is the cumulative impact on our water supply not what the individual dollar amount it cost us. If everyone recycled their waste water it would make a huge difference. One gallon at a time.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1985475
gods child
New member
reefsurfing got my vote.Use mine to water my gogeeberrys
greenbean36191
Premium Member
The water going in is generally pretty clean, but it isn't sterile. You can find info about bacteria in your water from your utility's water report, though most only provide info on the percentage of samples that tested positive for coliforms (which is all they're required to report).
Neither the filters themselves or the housings are sterile though, and they, rather than the water, are one of the main sources of bacteria. When you change your filters next time, you'll notice that the insides of the housings are a bit slimy. That's a bacterial film.
No. First, most bacteria aren't going to make you sick, so even if you were drinking bacteria-laden water, you would be fine in most cases, and probably wouldn't even notice.
Second, an RO unit isn't really comparable to a faucet-mount or fridge filter. Faucet mounted and fridge filters remove the chlorine from the water right before it goes into your glass and you drink it. There's no time for any bacteria present to multiply in the water after it's been dechlorinated. On the other hand, everything between the carbon block and RO membrane in your RO unit is dechlorinated, but not sterile. When you aren't running the unit, the bacteria are sitting in a stagnant, nutrient-rich brine with nothing to keep them from multiplying. The Brita pitchers offer the best comparison since you have dechlorinated water sitting around for a while, but they're usually washed semi-regularly and kept near freezing in the fridge, which inhibits bacterial growth. As I learned in college, if you don't wash them for a while, they will indeed grow nasty things, even in the fridge. Even then though, you aren't passing the water through a filter that concentrates any waterborne bacteria right before you drink it as is the case when you're drinking RO wastewater.
While the risk of getting sick from drinking the brine is pretty small, a lot of people do get sick from drinking from poorly maintained RO and carbon filters around the house. A former member here, AZDesertrat, who worked in water treatment, has lots of horror stories about being called to people's houses to do bacterial testing because people were getting sick, only to find out that their tap water was just fine, but the water from their tap filter or RO unit that they were drinking or making ice with was off the charts because the filter wasn't properly maintained and sterilized.
If you read the literature that comes with RO units and replacement filters, almost every supplier recommends regular sterilization of the unit and provides instructions on how to do it, for precisely that reason.
Use the brine to rinse the dishes, water the plants, flush the toilets, do the laundry, mop the floor, etc. but I would avoid drinking it, especially if you haven't recently sterilized your RO unit. Either drink the chlorinated water or the output from the RO side.
firebirdude
User and Abuser
I only have a nano tank. Used to use the waste water to fill the washing machine, but that got old. I dump it now.:hmm2:
chicago_animal
New member
I was thinking of putting the "waste" in my 135G cichlid tank. The waste is better then the tap I was using, right?
I was thinking of putting the "waste" in my 135G cichlid tank. The waste is better then the tap I was using, right?
No, not necessarily.
RO waste water will have substantial ammonia in it if there is chloramine added to the water for treatment. Most anything else inorganic in it will be elevated by about 20% or so.
No, not necessarily.
RO waste water will have substantial ammonia in it if there is chloramine added to the water for treatment. Most anything else inorganic in it will be elevated by about 20% or so.
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