Contents (Click To Jump)
- 1 How Much Does Reverse Osmosis Installation Usually Cost in Henderson?
- 2 What Are the Most Common Water Contaminants in Henderson?
- 3 Can Residents in Henderson Benefit From Reverse Osmosis Treatment?
- 4 How Often Should Residents in Henderson Replace Reverse Osmosis Prefilters?
- 5 Do You Need a Water Softener With Your Reverse Osmosis System in Henderson?
How Much Does Reverse Osmosis Installation Usually Cost in Henderson?
Reverse osmosis systems are typically pretty affordable here in Henderson. For simple, single point-of-use systems, we regularly see people spend as little as a couple of hundred dollars. Sometimes, systems or installs get more complex, though, which can drastically increase the cost. A few different factors could have a significant bearing on how much you would pay for us to install a reverse osmosis system in your home that’s right for your needs.
System Size
The bigger a system you’re installing, the higher the installation cost will tend to be. A lot of homes have under-the-sink or countertop reverse osmosis systems on a single faucet. These point-of-use systems can be simple to install but will only work for that one fixture. Installing multiple point-of-use RO systems could be more costly.
There is the option of whole-house reverse osmosis systems, but these will be much more costly. In addition to higher material and labor costs for installing these larger systems, RO systems can potentially increase your water usage. Installing a whole-home reverse osmosis system will give you sparklingly pure water throughout your whole house but could raise your water bill each month.
Water Usage and System Efficiency
Speaking of your water bill, it can be an essential part of the next factor in the cost of your reverse osmosis system installation. Reverse Osmosis systems filter water for large solids and contaminants before running it through several stages of purification. At any stage, materials removed from the drinking water are added to wastewater, which often results in a lot of water going straight down the drain. Cheap, inefficient RO systems can sometimes waste as much as four gallons of water for every gallon of pure water dispensed.
You don’t have to submit to the idea of a future of higher water bills if you want pure drinking water straight out of your tap, though. Reverse osmosis technology isn’t particularly new, but it’s developed a lot over the years. More sophisticated and efficient RO systems waste much less water while delivering superior results to lower quality systems. Though there’s some balancing to be done between your budget for an RO system and the potential cost in your water bill, how conservative you like to be with your water could, in the end, affect the cost of installing an RO system.
Extras and Features
Like we discussed above, there have been many advancements in reverse osmosis systems over the years. There is an abundance of customizations and features that you could get in your RO system to suit your specific needs. Some RO systems employ extra layers of purification to deliver only the purest water, remineralize water to adjust pH to ideal levels or incorporate UV lights designed to eliminate the possibility of any viruses or bacteria slipping through. Many RO systems will include a pump to increase the flow rate and purification efficiency of your water.
There are a lot of options for you, depending on what you want in an RO system. We’ve installed systems for people with different water use needs, and there is something for everybody. What features you want in your system may affect the final cost, though.
What Are the Most Common Water Contaminants in Henderson?
Our water here in Henderson can come from a few different sources in the area. Our city’s water treatment plant only accounts for processing about 15% of the drinking water used here in Henderson. The rest is sourced by the Southern Nevada Water Authority and administered by the City of Henderson. This means our drinking water here may have been processed at the Henderson Water Treatment Plant, Alfred Merritt Smith Water Treatment Plant, or River Mountains Water Treatment Plant. While any of these treatment plants do a fine job ensuring that drinking water in Henderson is safe and healthy, water treated at these volumes can never be entirely pure, and contaminants are often left over after drinking water leaves the treatment facility.
The Henderson Annual Water Report has repeatedly shown that our water meets all regulatory requirements of the EPA, FDA, and the State of Nevada. Still, it also indicates alarmingly high concentrations of some key contaminants.
First off, our water is incredibly hard at 325 PPM. Our water is sourced from the Colorado River, and its rocky soils regularly release tiny particles of minerals into our water which lends it its hardness quality. The particles that make water hard are usually salts and common minerals harmless to humans, though they can have adverse effects on your plumbing and fixtures over time. At 325 PPM, Henderson has some of the hardest water in the country, but there’s little that a large water treatment can do to separate these small sedimentary particles from your drinking water.
Second, there are harmful contaminants like chlorine, lead, arsenic, and copper carried within our water supply that, while within EPA guidelines for drinking water safety, are still at relatively high levels. While Henderson water isn’t going to be toxic, ingestion of even trace amounts of poisonous chemicals like arsenic and lead over time can potentially cause health problems in some people.
Third, our water travels a long way down from the mountains, and unexpected things can happen along the way. Bacterial contamination typically occurs from pollution, often associated with agriculture or wastewater disposal. While we always trust that our water treatment experts will remove any hazardous contamination that gets into our water, a treatment solution at home can give you extra protection should contamination occur with the drinking water here in Henderson.
Can Residents in Henderson Benefit From Reverse Osmosis Treatment?
Folks around here can benefit from reverse osmosis treatment of their drinking water. Our water may be sourced from a sparkling mountain river, but its very natural origins often lead it to carry many other substances on its journey to our faucets. Though our water always meets regulations and guidelines, the treatment done at our water treatment plants just can’t compare with how pure reverse osmosis treatment can make your drinking water.
Our water is good, but it’s not perfect. The water from the city of Henderson contains trace levels of many potentially harmful contaminants. Just because they’re within safe levels doesn’t mean you want to drink small amounts of arsenic, chlorine, or lead. Reverse osmosis can ensure that your drinking water is pristinely pure every time you pour a glass.
How Often Should Residents in Henderson Replace Reverse Osmosis Prefilters?
In general, the rule of thumb is to replace your prefilters at least once a year. That having been said, the extreme hardness of our water here in Henderson probably warrants at least checking twice a year to ensure that the filter is unobstructed and clean. The mineral content of our water can regularly gum up the works of any plumbing system, including reverse osmosis systems. Plumbing problems have led many here in Henderson to look into water softening systems for their homes.
Do You Need a Water Softener With Your Reverse Osmosis System in Henderson?
You never really need a water softener to run a reverse osmosis system, but here in Henderson, we’d say it’s highly recommended. Our water is extremely hard around here. While hard water may not cause health problems for those drinking it, there are many other nasty effects that it can have on your home’s infrastructure.
Our water is so hard because of tiny particles of rock from its origin in the Colorado River. Over time, this sediment builds up in all of your plumbing systems, your reverse osmosis system included. Hard water hinders the break up of your soaps and detergents in your wastewater system, which could lead to slow and eventually clogged drains. In addition, there are soap scum stains on the shower and stubborn film on clean dishes that hard water leaves. Hard water is just a problem all around, and with how high our water’s hardness levels are here in Henderson, a water softening system for your home is never a bad investment.
When it comes to your reverse osmosis system, it does soften water it dispenses. Your prefilter is designed to take most of the punishment from hard water. It filters water through a 5-micron screen, which will remove more significant trace minerals. The prefiltering means that whether you have a water softener or not, water will still come out of your reverse osmosis system entirely pure, with the hardness removed.
Without a water softener, how hard our water is in Henderson could put a lot of strain on your reverse osmosis system, though. While some minerals could still slip through to your purification system to build up and cause damage over time, most should be caught fire prefilter. However, the hard water means that you could end up changing prefilters far more often than you would with softer water.
