Texas Restaurant Puts RO to Work

Texas Restaurant Puts RO to Work

A local news segment out of Robstown, Texas shows what a commercial RO installation looks like from the customer side, and validates the case for RO in restaurants and food service businesses. Rod N Rolls, a community staple, recently installed a commercial reverse osmosis system in response to ongoing water quality concerns in the area. Co-owner Rodney Flores says customers noticed the difference right away, particularly in the tea and ice clarity. "We sell tons of tea, so the clarity of the tea changed pretty drastically," he said. The system filters incoming water through a membrane, stores clean water in a reserve tank, and feeds it directly to the tea and ice machines on demand. The trade-off is that four gallons of wastewater are discarded for every gallon produced. Flores says the decision came down to brand consistency, and he's now recommending the system to other local businesses.

What NSF Certifications Mean

Culligan Quench (Culligan’s “Workplace” arm) breaks down the NSF certification landscape for water filtration systems. The piece clarifies a common point of confusion right away: a product can be certified to an NSF standard without displaying the NSF logo, because there are three accredited bodies that can certify compliance (NSF, WQA, and IAPMO). The logo on a label is the certifier's stamp, not NSF's stamp specifically. From there, the guide walks through the five standards that matter most: 42 (taste and odor, typically chlorine reduction), 53 (health-related contaminants like lead, PFAS, and Cryptosporidium), 58 (reverse osmosis system performance), 61 (ensures system components don't leach contaminants into the water), and 372 (verifies low lead content in hardware materials). That last distinction is worth noting: a system can be certified lead-free in its construction while still needing a separate filter to remove lead coming in from the municipal supply.

Endocrine Disruptors

Kinetico takes a closer look at how the EPA regulates endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in drinking water. EDCs are chemicals that block, mimic, or interfere with hormones, and chronic exposure has been linked to thyroid disorders, diabetes, reproductive issues, and certain cancers. The piece walks through four categories: PFAS (where PFOA and PFOS have an MCL of 4 ppt but a health goal of zero), plastics and pesticides (BPA has no federal MCL at all), disinfection byproducts, and heavy metals. To illustrate the gap between legal limits and what health scientists consider safe, Kinetico references guidelines from the Environmental Working Group (EWG). For example, for total trihalomethanes (a common disinfection byproduct) the EPA limit is 80 ppb while the EWG's health-based guideline sits at 0.15 ppb. The recommendation throughout is RO, which Kinetico positions as the most effective solution.

iSpring RCC7: There’s a Catch

Water Filter Guru put the iSpring RCC7 under-sink reverse osmosis system through a detailed lab and real-world test. The good news: at $269 upfront and roughly $0.17 per gallon ongoing, it's one of the most affordable tank-based RO systems on the market. It's also NSF 58 certified, and it reduced most contaminants by over 90% in testing. But the concerning news: arsenic and vanadium were both detected in the post-filtration water despite neither being present at meaningful levels going in. The team suspects trace impurities leaching from the remineralization media itself, a notable red flag given that arsenic has a health guideline of zero. Beyond that, the unit's real-world flow rate came in at 35 GPD against a claimed 75 GPD, installation took 90 minutes with extra steps not required by competing systems, and iSpring's marketing claims filtration of over 1,000 contaminants while the unit is only certified for nine.

What else is happening:

• Researchers with Florida Atlantic University have developed a moon lander-like device to help detect water quality threats earlier

• WQA highlights its upcoming 2026 WQA Convention & Expo schedule

• SpringWell overviews PFAS in private wells and how to lower exposure

• PureSize, which appears to be affiliated with SpringWell, launches sizingwatersoftener.com a free online calculator for softener sizing

• Washington-based Pure Water Northwest explains fast-track ways to remove lead from school water