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by jna_sh 853 days ago
Doesn’t the post link to an article that suggests reverse osmosis membranes may be responsible for some of these nanoplastics? Am I misreading this?
2 comments

The articles state higher levels in bottled water treated with RO but there are many stages of treatment and delivery involved in industrial scale bottled water production. Unclear if RO itself is the underlying cause.

RO membranes are tight enough and should effectively remove all microplastics from the output water. On a consumer RO system the water will still pass through a few final treatment stages and a few feet of plastic tubing before getting to your glass.

Very possible some additional plastic is being introduced in the post membrane stages and delivery but my assumption is that a point of use RO system is going to reasonably effective.

There is some chance the manufacturers are omitting the fact that all membranes are bleeding microplastics during use. At the moment I don't think we have enough evidence to say they are and most testing has shown them to be effective as a removal method.

no, you're not misreading.