How to Improve the Taste of RO Water
Written by: Alexandra Uta // Last Updated: Aug 11, 2023
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Are you dealing with a peculiar taste in your reverse osmosis water?
Or you simply don’t like the bland or flat taste of it?
If you are not happy with the current taste of your reverse osmosis water and want to improve it, here are some suggestions to consider.
Contents
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Key Takeaways
Some people find the taste of reverse osmosis water too flat by default. It can be improved in various ways:
- Remineralization
- Infusion with herbs, spices, fruits, veggies
- Performing more frequent maintenance on the reverse osmosis system
- Priming new filters
- Adding additional treatment
How to Improve the Taste of RO Water
Here is how you can improve the taste of your RO water.
Remineralize
Remineralizing reverse osmosis water is an easy way to improve its taste, and it’s generally recommended anyway. That’s because reverse osmosis strips water of its natural minerals by default, which could lead to some deficiencies in your diet if you’re used to obtaining most of those minerals through your drinking water.
Remineralizing has the added benefit of making reverse osmosis water less corrosive, which can also prevent negative reactions with copper and other metallic pipe materials.
How to Remineralize Reverse Osmosis Water
Remineralizing can be done in several ways.
- There are mineral drops available over the counter which you can just add to your water on the go.
- Alternatively, you can invest in a remineralizing filter. This is a filtration component which adds minerals to water, and is often added as a post-filter stage in reverse osmosis systems.
Lemon Juice
A few drops of lemon juice are a quick and easy way to improve the taste of any glass of water, including reverse osmosis water.
Keep in mind that reverse osmosis water is already slightly acidic by default though, so you should be careful about adding too much lemon juice.
Add Mint
Mint is another viable alternative, with the added benefit of slightly raising the pH level of water in reasonable quantities. The only downside is that its taste is highly subjective and some people cannot stand it at all.
Cucumber
Cucumbers are a classic trick for improving the taste of drinking water. They’re cheap and widely available, and you only need a couple of slices per jug to get the job done. Make sure to smash them a little bit to release their juices into the water, and you’re good to go.
Infuse with Other Herbs, Spices, Fruits, or Veggies
Those are just some examples of things you could add to your water to improve its taste. Feel free to experiment with other herbs, spices, or anything else that catches your fancy. Some options to consider:
- Rosemary
- Lemongrass
- Basil
- Ginger
- Cinnamon
- Berries
- Pear
- Mango
In the end, there is no right choice – it mostly boils down to your personal preferences.
Proper Maintenance
The more a reverse osmosis membrane and other filters are used, the less effective they become. At some point, every filter needs to be replaced. With most pre and post-filters, this should be done every 6-12 months on average. When it comes to the reverse osmosis membrane, you can be a bit more relaxed – it’s usually okay to swap it out every couple of years.
In any case, don’t forget to do this, as it can severely degrade the performance of your reverse osmosis system and the taste of water it produces.
Prime New Filters
Some filters need to be primed before they can be used – this includes the reverse osmosis membrane. Priming usually involves running the filter through a few cycles, but the exact method varies from one model to another. Always check the manufacturer’s manual before using a new filter for the first time.
Check Your Tubing and Storage Tank
Over time, biofilm can accumulate in various parts of your reverse osmosis system. This includes tubing segments, the storage tank, and the filter elements. All of those areas need to be thoroughly cleansed every once in a while, and this should be done more often if you’re dealing with particularly badly contaminated water.
Add Additional Carbon Filtration
Carbon is great at dealing with specific contaminants, including chlorine and many other sources of bad tastes and smells. Even if you have a carbon pre and/or post-filter, you might want to consider adding another one if you’re noticing problems with the quality of your reverse osmosis water.
UV Sterilization
UV sterilization is hands down the best way to deal with biological contaminants. It doesn’t help with anything else though, and the presence of certain contaminants in water can actually decrease the performance of a UV filter, which is why it’s almost always used in combination with other filters.
UV filters work great as a post-filter step in reverse osmosis setups, as they can kill all biological contaminants and prevent them from replicating.
Other Pre/Post-Treatment
There are many types of pre and post-filters available on the market, and it’s recommended to explore them all in some detail to ensure that you’re not missing any important elements in your setup. Here are some common examples to consider:
- Ceramic filter: works well against sediment and various kinds of germs.
- Catalytic carbon filter: particularly effective at dealing with chloramine and hydrogen sulfide, which often pose a problem for most other types of water filters.
- Ion exchange filter: deals with salts and metals.
Use an Alkalinization Stage or Alkaline Water Pitcher
If the acidity of your reverse osmosis water is the primary cause for its poor taste, then an alkalization stage can work very well in your filtration setup. You can also look into getting a dedicated alkaline water pitcher, although using one can be a bit inconvenient as you have to refill it manually.
Liquid Flavoring
You can purchase flavoring solutions to improve the taste of your RO water. Keep in mind that those might come with some downsides, such as added calories.
What Should RO Water Taste Like?
Reverse osmosis water should ideally have no taste or smell at all. That’s because reverse osmosis strips out pretty much all impurities from water – and pure water by itself is tasteless and odorless. Still, even if your reverse osmosis system is functioning correctly, your filtered water can sometimes have an unusual taste to it.
Further Reading:
Factors Affecting the Taste of Reverse Osmosis Water
Here are some of the most common factors that affect the taste of reverse osmosis water. Going down this list can be a good way to exhaust different potential causes when you’re trying to troubleshoot your own filtration setup.
pH level
It’s important to remember that reverse osmosis water is slightly acidic by default – that’s because pure water has a pH level that goes into acidity a little. While the difference is not normally enough to change the taste of water by itself, it can lead to problems like increased corrosion in copper piping – and that can cause an unpleasant taste in your water.
Mineral/Salt Composition
Reverse osmosis is a thorough filtration process, but it’s not 100% effective. In the end, some small percentage of contaminants will remain.
“Percentage” is an important keyword here – if your feedwater is very badly contaminated, a higher percentage of contaminants will be left in the filtered water as well, compared to filtering water from less contaminated sources.
Water Source
This brings us to a very important point. The source of your water can make all the difference in its taste and smell, even when it’s been filtered with reverse osmosis. Take a large open reservoir for example – these places are prone to algae growth and other similar problems, plus water can start to taste stale after it’s been sitting in the sun for a long time.
Leftover Contaminants
You might also be dealing with contaminants left over in various components of your plumbing, both inside and outside of the reverse osmosis filtration setup. Replacing some segments of your tubing or piping might be necessary if you want to deal with that problem.
Copper Plumbing
As we noted above, reverse osmosis water can react badly with copper plumbing due to its slightly corrosive nature and the inherent properties of copper. Remineralize!
Old Filter Elements
Maintaining your reverse osmosis system on a regular basis is important. The most critical factor of that maintenance is swapping out the filter elements regularly. For the membrane, this should be done once every few years. With other filter elements, you may have to do it more often – every 6 months in some cases.
Hydrogen Sulfide
Hydrogen sulfide is one of the few weak spots of reverse osmosis systems. If you have a high concentration of it in your feedwater, you should look into adding dedicated pre-filters to your reverse osmosis system to deal with it.
How Often to Replace RO System Filters for Optimum Taste
The different filters used in a reverse osmosis system have different optimal replacement periods. Here are some examples for commonly used filters:
- Reverse osmosis membrane: every 2-5 years
- Carbon pre-filter: every 6-12 months
- Carbon post-filter: every year
If you have any questions about how to make RO water taste better please don’t hesitate to leave a comment below!
About the Author Alexandra Uta
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