So, I’ll admit it. I used to think reverse osmosis was like using a rocket launcher to swat a housefly. The kind of thing you’d only need if your tap water came straight from a toxic waste pond. I wrote it off as plumbing theater for paranoid folks with too much money and too little common sense.
But here’s the thing about opinions: sometimes they age like milk.
My two major issues with reverse osmosis were that it was fundamentally unsustainable and that the vast majority of the options out there were blatant cash grabs by private equity backed marketing juggernauts that would disappear as soon as the market got a little tough.
I also started running into more and more people dealing with water that tastes like a chemistry experiment gone wrong. I started seeing all the papers about PFAS in suburban wells, or "mineral water" with TDS levels higher than a tax bill. And I’m not enough of an idiot to stick to my guns when the data says otherwise. I mean, I am a special kind of moron, but not in this stuff specifically. So I asked the pros I work with and they helped smack some sense into me.
Which is why, against my past self’s better judgment, I’ve started carrying two RO systems: the North Star NSROPS and the Pentair T600RO. No, I haven’t lost my mind. These two models directly address the waste, complexity, and overkill that made me skeptical in the first place.
Take the North Star NSROPS. This thing doesn’t just filter water; it hunts down contaminants like a bloodhound with a chemistry degree. It’s got NSF certifications stacked higher than my inbox—standards 42, 53, 58, 401, P231, 372. Translation? It zaps PFAS forever chemicals, lead, viruses, and even the weird chlorine aftertaste your tap water leaves behind. But the real kicker? It’s simple. Twist-and-pull filters, no shutting off water lines, and a tank that doesn’t groan like a haunted pipe organ. For folks whose water reads like a periodic table nightmare, this isn’t luxury. It’s armor.
And North Star? They’ve been around for almost a century so you probably don’t need to worry about them suddenly going out of business because their funding suddenly got pulled.
Then there’s the Pentair T600RO. Remember how I moaned about RO wasting enough water to fill a swimming pool? Pentair heard me. This tankless unit pumps out nearly 400 gallons a day while wasting less than half what old-school RO systems dump down the drain. It’s all thanks to cross-flow cleaning and some clever auto-flush tech. And it’s tankless! And it has a faucet with little LED lights that blink when the filters get tired. And honestly? Swapping cartridges feels a little like loading a torpedo in a WW2 sub and is a little too cool for school.
So why these two? Because they make RO rational, not ridiculous. Because North Star handles the scary stuff without turning your kitchen into a maintenance nightmare. Because Pentair slashes waste and space like a minimalist ninja.
I still think slapping RO on every tap in a city with decent water is like using a flamethrower to light a birthday candle. But for homes where the water’s genuinely sketchy? These two systems aren’t overkill. They’re the right tool for the right problem. And they could be The Right Filter for you.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go finish my corvid casserole.
Share this post