Distilled Water Association

Water Education through Science and Engineering

Reverse Osmosis

How to Add Minerals to RO water

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Minerals can easily and cheaply be added to any water, including distilled and reverse osmosis water

Reverse Osmosis water also known as RO water is among the cleanest types of water you can drink. Scientifically slightly less pure than distilled water but for all practical purposes it’s virtually the same thing. Clean, pure, water comes with a tradeoff: the removal of everything, including the good stuff, like minerals. It’s natural that after stripping everything from the water some people want to add minerals back into it. For everything about the minerals themselves, please read How to Add Minerals to RO Water. Here will concentrate on how to actually add the minerals once you already have them in your possession.

The first thing to consider is that most mineral supplements for water are designed to be mixed in large quantities of water (usually one gallon, or about 4 liters). That means you can’t really just turn on the faucet, fill up your glass, and add a drop of minerals concentrate.

If you do, the first thing you’ll notice is a very strong (unpleasant) taste, not just salty (even if most brands of minerals concentrate contain low sodium), but you may also detect too strong of a taste (some people have described it as metallic, while other people say it tastes grainy).

There could also be some serious health problems if you drink too many minerals. The mineral brands available in the market are designed specifically to be soluble over several liters of water; depending on the brand, it could be anywhere between 1 and 8 drops per gallon. One gallon is 16 glasses of water. So, if you put one drop into one glass you’re taking about 16 times the recommended amount. If you’re working out and sweating profusely, then that’s probably not a problem to drink it but if you’re just going about your day and you take consistently 16 times the recommended dosage, that could be harmful. Look, even broccoli in high dosage is bad for you… everything good in life is supposed to be taken with measure.

Another thing to understand is that you can’t just add minerals to RO water and expect it to be ready to be consumed the second you pour those minerals, it’s not exactly coolaid. There’s a waiting period where the minerals need to be allowed to be dissolved into the water.

So, the solution is to fill up at least one gallon in a jug, and put the minerals in the jug. Then let it rest for 30 minutes or so. It’s best if you do Not put the water jug in the fridge prior to adding the minerals otherwise it will take longer for them to dissolve in the water. The warmer the water, the faster the minerals will mix with the liquid. After that, you can enjoy it anyway you like: either leave it out and drink it at room temperature or put it in the fridge to let it cool and enjoy it cold. By the way, you’re not forced to just drink the water as is. You can treat RO water like any other water; make coffee, tea, etc, etc.

Distilled Water Vs Reverse Osmosis Revisited: Which Is Better?

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Many people get distilled water and reverse osmosis mixed up. It is understandable; the two seem to offer the same thing. However, both go through very different processes and offer many different pros and cons. It’s important to compare the two to understand which is better for you.

Reverse Osmosis

This is commonly referred to as hyper filtration. Really, it filters the water to remove the particles from it. Water is then purified by removing all the impurities, including minerals and salts, to improve color and taste. The water passes through a membrane that is only large enough to allow the water particles to pass through.

Crossflow is also not commonly used to ensure the membranes are self cleaning. The substances collected during the process are swept away.

Distilling Water

The distilling process does something similar but with heat rather than a membrane. The water is vaporized, but the chemicals and unwanted nutrients will not vaporize. Everything that could possibly be harmful to the body is left behind.

The vaporized water then goes through a condenser to cool and become a liquid again. All that is left behind is the pure water. The chemicals, bacteria, minerals and everything else is left in the vaporizing section.

Which Is Better for You?

Both offer the same benefits: you get some close to pure water. There are some problems with reverse osmosis though. You need to make sure the membranes have not been damaged, so the holes are too small for all the particles. Some may get through. With the distilling process, nothing but water will go through because the boiling points are much higher than the water. It is also easier to clean everything out when distilling the water.

Essentially, Reverse Osmosis removes almost everything in the water, leaving something that is for practical purposes almost the same as Distilled water, except maintenance of the Reverse Osmosis is constant and costly… and if you fail to do proper maintenance, you might actually end up drinking dirty water and getting sick!

There is pretty much one way to consistently get pure water, and that is by using a water Distiller. However, if the Reverse Osmosis is well maintained and the filters constantly updated, then Reverse Osmosis will create water that is basically the same thing as Distilled water. Distilling and reverse osmosis both offer the benefit of removing all the chemicals, bacteria and harmful minerals, so all you get is clean, tasty water.