What is wrong with RO?

Aw, c'mon. There have been endless threads about that. I don't want the waste.

Pssst... there are ZERO waste ROs.

Umm....what is it about your water that needs treatment/filtering? Don't know your goals. Talking drinking-water only?

Yes, drinking water only. I'm from northern Oregon which has the best drinking water on the face of the earth and I have never gotten used to the taste of California water. I also am cynical about the chemicals allowed in municipal drinking water--we had silicon wafer fabs around the area for years and farms are allowed waaaaay too many chemicals, imo.

I read the threads on ro and it seems that the zero-waste models are probably apt to make problems a few years down the road.

I am long-time user of Kinetico softeners and RO's but not familiar with anything other from them.

Since you seem to be very concerned about the prospect of consuming bad stuff that may be in your tap water, I think I'd start with an independent test of the stuff to see what's in it. After that, explore devices/filters to deal with what found. Otherwise one can spend tons of money on devices that won't do what's needed.

Many people are confused about the difference between 'waste water" and "wasting water" with RO production. In perspective, there is less waste water than nearly all other water use in the house, especially considering its ultimate benefit.

Quote: "farms are allowed waaaaay too many chemicals,"

Actually that is not true.... According to a long study conducted by Ohio State University in co-operation with UCLA & Iowa State University under current regulations
Farms are required to test their soil before every planting and they are only permitted to apply the amount of fertilizer required to suppliment the crop they are intending to plant.

On the other hand, there is absolutely no regulations on how much fertilizer or chemicals that can be applied to the landscape by homeowners and tests have confirmed that the majority of the agricultural chemicals that are getting into the watershed and aquifers is runoff from residential landscaping.

It may not seem like much when your applying 50 or 100lbs of fertilizer to your lawn or garden two or three times a year, but according to the experts nearly every homeowner who is applying fertilizer is not testing their soil and in most cases the fertilizers they are applying are far to much for what their soil actually needs.

In the state of Ohio measured in pure tonnage, they sell nearly three times as much fertilizer to homeowners as what is currently being used by their agriculture.

Thanks, all. Yes, lazypup, you are correct that homeowners are doing plenty to spoil our water and land as well. It's nice to see organic produce prices coming down over the years.

Thank you all for your thoughts and suggestions.