Osmosis is the natural process by which molecules of a solvent (ie impure water) tend to pass through a semipermeable membrane from a less concentrated solution to a more concentrated one.
Diagram by Rlawson at English Wikibooks, CC BY-SA 3.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13832038
To those who aren’t aware of this process, in the diagram above we have pure water and salt water separated by a semipermeable membrane.
| If we leave it like that for long enough, we’ll find that the level of the pure water will drop, and the level of the salt (or impure) water will rise as the concentration level of the water equalises. |
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| Reverse osmosis is achieving the opposite of that by using pressure to force the impure salt water through the semipermeable membrane to the fresh water side, leaving the salt and other impurities behind. |
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| One issue with RO systems is what to do with the leftover concentrate. If you don’t like the idea of waste water going down the drain, the water rejected by RO systems can be diverted and stored for multiple uses such as cleaning cars or watering your garden. |
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