EFC Discontinues Reverse-Osmosis "RO" filtered water

In December, the pump for the reverse osmosis water filtration system broke down. Because our system is quite old (it was a refurbished system from another food co-op that was rebuilt for EFC in 2003), it took us some time to locate a pump online, and even longer for that pump be shipped here to the store.

During that time, we investigated other options, as we realized our current system is in that stage of life similar to that of many used cars: how much do we pour into maintenance and repairs for an obsolete system? When talking to different companies about reverse osmosis, we kept hearing about its wastefulness, but we really didn’t understand what or how that waste was generated. We then went online and found an article from the North Dakota State University extension service that explains both how wasteful reverse osmosis systems are and why.

Essentially, the process begins with water softening. There is always a little wasted water when softening the water, but it is the next step where most of the waste occurs. The softened water is pushed at high pressure into a semi-permeable membrane filter. Most of the water bounces off the filter and down the drain. A small portion (5-12%) of the water makes it through the filter, and is purified at a level of 0.001 parts per million. That is the water we’ve been selling for $.39 a gallon. A analogy to use: image squirting a garden house at your hand with the fingers held together. A small portion of the water will be forced between your fingers and out onto the other side of your hand. The rest will cascade down your arm or bounce off your palm.

As our system is obsolete, it is one of the more wasteful of the RO systems, losing at least 12 gallons to every gallon filtered, perhaps more. So the co-op is paying for 12 gallons to come into our building, and paying for 11 to go right down the sanitary sewer, paying coming and going so to speak. But the biggest concern for us was the waste of a natural resource. The Co-op operates with Ends Policies around five interest areas, one of which is the Environment.

The policy states “Our environment is minimally impacted by our presence and practices.” There are so many impacts our business has on the environment that we can’t control. We can’t control our high usage of fossil fuels for vehicles to bring product here from all over the world. We can’t control the cost of natural gas and electricity to pull heat out of our coolers and freezers, and to heat up and light the store. But trying to control the amount of water we waste is within our control, and we don’t believe we can justify a commercial RO filtration system, when home units are much more efficient. Even if we were to spend thousands for a top of the line commercial RO filtration system, the best efficiency we could hope for is 8 gallons of waste water to 1 gallon of RO. We will continue to filter the tap water that comes in contact with food, in the produce case, in the deli, and in the drinking fountain, that comes into the building, using a water refining system. While this removes a lot of potentially objectionable contents of tap water, including 100% of the chlorine, 75% of the fluoride, hard minerals, and metals, it is not statistically more pure than tap water to the extent that we feel it has retail value.

Because of this, we will not sell the filtered water to our customers. We do offer a line of home water filtration products that remove many of these same materials. Under the counter and countertop systems will be offered at $20 below margin until March 31 to offset the inconvenience and provide alternatives. (If you wish to see a system in use, ask to visit our break room!) If you are interested in one of these system, email kristina@eastsidefood.coop.

Additionally, Atlantis Water Systems in Brooklyn Center, with whom we are working to set up our new filtration system, sells home reverse osmosis which are much more efficient than commercial ones, with waste ratios of 3 gallons to 1 filtered gallon up to top of the line models with a 1:1 waste ratio. Nick Galanos at Atlantis will offer EFC members a 10% discount on a home RO filtration system, free installation and 10% off future filter purchases. His phone number if 763-560-0103.

We know our RO customers will be disappointed, but, as environmental stewards, we feel we can’t continue with a commercial RO system knowing the waste it generates. We sold 12,000 gallons in 2009, meaning we paid for 145,000 gallons to come into the store, we softened those 145,000 gallons, and then paid for them to go right down the drain! If you have comments, questions or concerns about our decision to discontinue RO filtration at the co-op, please call general manager Amy Fields at 612-843-5401 or e-mail amy@eastsidefood.coop.