Is RODI water safe to drink?

[Rtorres508]

I drank a full glass of RO water a few years back for a small colony of strawberry shortcake. The result was almost as bad as the time I got sick in DR from what I assumed was water they probably used to cook our dinner... I have to say it was a sweet *** colony though

 

[Greg P]

So what about the waste water that comes out? Can you drink that?

Seriously?
That is where the heaviest TDS will be
Water your weeds with it !!!

It'll be packed full of heavy metals and such

 

[Dom]

Seriously?
That is where the heaviest TDS will be
Water your weeds with it !!!

It'll be packed full of heavy metals and such

Yes, seriously. Excuse me for not being an expert on the subject.

 

[Greg P]

Yes, seriously. Excuse me for not being an expert on the subject.

OK, sorry for that. I didn't realize it wasn't a worldly known fact.
Yes, you do NOT want to drink the waste water from your RO or RODI unit.
As I stated above, it is PACKED full of stuff you want to let go down your drain.
It is called a waste line, or black water line, for a reason.
Sorry to not clarify it earlier

 

[WallyB]

This sums up all the other things I have read on the subject (see link below).

Why It's Unsafe

Aside from its unpleasant taste and sensation in your mouth, there are good reasons to avoid drinking deionized water:

1. Deionized water lacks minerals normally found in water which provide beneficial health effects. Calcium and magnesium, in particular, are desirable minerals in the water.
2. Deionized water aggressively attacks pipes and storage container materials, leaching metals and other chemicals into the water.
3. Drinking DI may lead to increased risk of metal toxicity, both because deionized water leaches metals from pipes and containers and because hard or mineral water protects against absorption of other metals by the body.
4. Use of DI for cooking can lead to loss of minerals in food into the cooking water.
5. At least one study found ingestion of deionized water directly damaged the intestinal mucosae. Other studies did not observe this effect.
6. There is substantial evidence drinking DI disrupts mineral homeostasis. Long-term use of deionized water as drinking water may cause organ damage, even if additional minerals are present elsewhere in the diet.
7. There is evidence that distilled and DI water are less likely to quench thirst.
8. Deionized water may contain contamination in the form of bits of ion exchange resin.
9. While deionized water made from distilled or reverse osmosis purified water may be pure, deionizing nonpotable water will not make it safe to drink.

https://www.thoughtco.com/is-it-safe-to-drink-deionized-water-609428

A good paper on the subject from WHO.
World Health Organization paper on DI Water

Dead on. Drinking DI regularly is NOT Good for Humans and Animals. 1 glass won't kill you. Just drinking DI water can.
RO is fine if you are consuming food to maintain minerals in your body.
This was told to me by the President of a RO/DI water Purification company.

 

[Greg P]

Just to clarify further;
Waste water from your RO/RODI is called Black Water.
This is the rejected water from your RO membrane, or even after your DI filter/s.
This water is immensely full of all the heavy metals/dissolved solids you do not want in your tank, and is not suitable for drinking. I also recommend it not be used for watering food gardens such as tomato/lettuce etc whatever you grow. But that's just me.

It's fine to use it for watering your lawn or anything else ornamental if you like, as long as it doesn't affect/effect the plants adversely. YMMV

 

[Reefahholic]

I just learned everything I wanted to know and more about RODI water.

 

[Greg P]

1 glass won't kill you. Just drinking DI water can.
RO is fine if you are consuming food to maintain minerals in your body.

I agree wholly. Small amounts of DI water are OK, but regular usage will result in your body being depleted of minerals.

Our bodies are mineral syncs (sic)

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

Very good thread but I do spend lots of time in the fish room. In a pinch, could I cycle my urine through the rodi unit and drink it?

Would it actually taste like urine after the membrane and carbon treatments?

 

[Greg P]

When we use RO/RODI to filter water, we essentially remove everything in it that the water is attracted to.
This allows us to add salt mixes which give us a 'base line' for our tanks.

So, it's deplete of everything.
Put it in your body, and it now becomes a 'magnet' for anything it can absorb.
Thus, when you drink this replete water, it will essentially 'remove' from your body whatever it can 'attach to' as it goes out.

Best to drink tap water !!

 

[Greg P]

Very good thread but I do spend lots of time in the fish room. In a pinch, could I cycle my urine through the rodi unit and drink it?

Would it actually taste like urine after the membrane and carbon treatments?

Ewww

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

Just to clarify further;
Waste water from your RO/RODI is called Black Water.
This is the rejected water from your RO membrane, or even after your DI filter/s.
This water is immensely full of all the heavy metals/dissolved solids you do not want in your tank, and is not suitable for drinking. I also recommend it not be used for watering food gardens such as tomato/lettuce etc whatever you grow. But that's just me.

Cough...bs.... cough.

It is not like your RO membrane is super concentrating these elements through distillation. Typical waste to ro is what? 2 to 1? So by simple physics.. drinking one glass of "waste water" has the same amount of "bad things" as drinking two glasses of water straight from the tap.

Come on... we are smarter than this.

 

[Greg P]

Come on... we are smarter than this.

Look at your rejection rate and re-think it.
If your source water is say 0.006 copper, and you have a rejection rate of say 95-98%, what is your copper coming out of the black water line?
Would you drink that?

Or Lead?

 

[Greg P]

Show me that the water coming out of our waste water lines is not super-concentrated with TDS and I will thank you, and then I'll shut up.

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

Again.. based on RO production rates your getting the exact same amount of copper, lead, etc as twice the amount of tap water.

If you drink three glasses of tap water it is the same amount of metals as one glass of rejected water. (If you ran three glasses of tap water through an RODI unit you would get two glasses full of minerals and one glass with none) but it is still the same total amount)

 

[Greg P]

Here's a simpler thought;
If you put 10 parts of X in to 3 gallons of water, it's 10 parts per gallon.
If you remove ALL of the parts in 1 gallon and add them to the other 2 gallons, it becomes 0 parts in 1 gallon, and 16.666 etc in the other 2 gallons ... yes?
Is that not concentration?

And that is with a 2:1 rejection rate

So, 0.006ppm copper becomes 0.009ppm in this analogy in your glass of water.
This tells me you are drinking a higher concentration of 'said copper'out of your black water than if you drank it out of the tap.

 

[Greg P]

Again.. based on RO production rates your getting the exact same amount of copper, lead, etc as twice the amount of tap water.

If you drink three glasses of tap water it is the same amount of metals as one glass of rejected water. (If you ran three glasses of tap water through an RODI unit you would get two glasses full of minerals and one glass with none) but it is still the same total amount)

The argument here became can you drink rejected RO water.
I think I'll bow out as it's getting off topic from the OP's question.

 

[Greg P]

but it is still the same total amount

It's not the same, but I don't want to continue derailing the OPs thread with our off-topic discussion

 

[Greg P]

Would it be unhealthy because it's filtered too much?

Last question...can you use this in an iron since all the metals are filtered out.

I wanna make coffee with it or use in baby bottles.

Sorry to derail your thread

 

[Greg P]

Would it be unhealthy because it's filtered too much?

Last question...can you use this in an iron since all the metals are filtered out.

I wanna make coffee with it or use in baby bottles.

Yes you can use it in your iron to flatten clothing
No, do not use it to make coffee or in your baby bottles for drinking