Reverse Osmosis for this water profile - is it feasible?

[Robb]

We have been searching for a property to locate a new brewery for quite some time and we thought we had found it. I took a sample of the water (on site well) and sent it off to Ward Labs. These are the results:

pH 8.0
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm 570
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.95
Cations / Anions, me/L 9.8 / 9.5

ppm
Sodium, Na 4
Potassium, K 2
Calcium, Ca 93.7
Magnesium, Mg 58
Total Hardness, CaCO3 477
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.5 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 6
Chloride, Cl 32
Carbonate, CO3 < 1.0
Bicarbonate, HCO3 496
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 411
Total Phosphorus, P < 0.01
Total Iron, Fe < 0.01
Manganese, Mn < 0.01
"<" - Not Detected / Below Detection Limit

For this location we were planning on a 7BBL system. Would an RO system be able to handle this water economically? I worry that we would be constantly replacing filters due to the extreme hardness of this water, if the system could even handle it.

[BuckeyeHydro]

Yes - an RO is feasible in this situation.

When you think about a commercial RO system, realize that in most situations they require treatment of the feedwater ahead of the RO. The two most common pieces of "pretreatment" equipment are a carbon tank to treat chlorine or chloramines (both absent in your well water), and a water softener to remove hardness. Your water has 28 grains per gallon of hardness. You can't feed that directly to an RO because the membrane would be ruined in short order. A softener however can handle that level of hardness well.

The lab didn't detect iron or manganese - both of which are common well water problems, and both of which must be removed via pretreatment.

Does the water have the dreaded "rotten egg" odor?

Russ

[Robb]

No, it didn't smell of anything really as I recall.

[BuckeyeHydro]

That's a good sign - hydrogen sulfide, another common well water contaminant, would have been the culprit.

Russ

[Robb]

I sent an email to your company last night and I look forward to hearing your solution.