Reverse Osmosis Systems:  Design, Sales, Installation, Service of Flowtronex Reverse Osmosis Systems

Most people think of reverse osmosis, or "RO" systems as a means of desalinating seawater or extremely brackish water, by forcing salty water across the surface of special membranes at extremely high pressures.  Reverse osmosis systems do that very well, and due to advances in membrane technology, they have become increasingly popular as costs have come down.  RO systems are most frequently utilized in coastal areas, on barrier islands, and throughout the Caribbean, where naturally occurring fresh water is in limited supply.  Reverse osmosis systems are used to provide both potable water and irrigation water.

Seawater desalinization remains relatively expensive, due to the high operating pressures (600 to 1000 psi) required to process water with high salt content.  Accordingly, irrigation users of RO seawater systems may be severely constrained by the high costs associated with purchasing and operating an RO system.  Irrigation distribution systems supplied with 100% RO water tend to be smaller than would ordinarily be desired in warmer climates.

Seawater desalinization aside, a reverse osmosis system may be economically viable when used for the purpose of mitigating poor water quality, especially where well water used for irrigation has high salt content.  This is a common problem, not only in coastal states, but even in portions of the Midwest.  Golf Course Superintendents faced with poor quality ground water often resort to using municipal water to dilute their irrigation supply water.  In doing so, an 18 hole golf course can incur annual water bills in excess of $100K. Reverse osmosis systems, properly designed, can have rapid paybacks in these situations.  Ground water with salt content in excess of 1000 PPM is detrimental to turfgrass and plant growth, as salt builds up in the soil over time.  Both the initial purchase cost and the operating cost of an RO system used to remove salts in these lower TDS ranges is much less than a station of equivalent capacity designed to process seawater with salt content in the 30-40,000 PPM range.

On a recent project in Michigan, ProPump installed a 215,000 GPD Flowtronex reverse osmosis system to purify discharge from wells used to fill a golf club's irrigation reservoir. Operating pressure of the RO system, due to the relatively low salt content in the well water, was only 160 PSI.  Because the purity of the product water at the output of the machine was so high, the discharge stream could be blended with the source well water to increase the capacity of the system by 35-45%, and still produce water of excellent quality for irrigation purposes. Total cost of the project was $226,000. Relieved of bills for supplementary city water averaging $82,000 annually, payback was projected to be 3.5 years.

If you would like to learn more about reverse osmosis systems, contact your nearest ProPump office for more information, or click here This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Red Run GC Study and Report (courtesy of Michael Kuhn & Associates) - please download pdf