Is reverse osmosis water safe for neti pots?

Is reverse osmosis water safe for neti pots? Yes, Reverse Osmosis Water is 100% safe for neti pots. Doctors and experts at the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have clearly mentioned on the official website that Reverse Osmosis is one of their most preferred water filtration processes.

Because reverse osmosis is tremendously effective in removing amoeba, protozoa, bacteria, and viruses. It is also effective against the 21st century’s most common chemical contaminants like chloride, copper, chromium, lead, sulfate, calcium, magnesium, potassium, nitrate, and phosphorus, etc. They highly recommend using a certified reverse osmosis water filter not only to filter water for your neti pot but also to purify all of your cooking and drinking water.

In this article, we are going to explain everything there is to know about neti pots. We will tell you what is a neti pot, how a neti work, what kind of water you can safely use in your neti pots, etc. Let’s get started, shall we?

1) What is a neti pot?

2) How does a neti pot work?

Navage Nasal Cleaner, World’s Best Neti Pot

3) What kind of water is safe to use in a neti pot?

Neti pot users were terrified when CBS News reported a woman, lived in Seattle aged 69, died because of a brain-eating amoeba infection. The woman was using municipality-supplied tap water in her neti pot for nasal congestion. The neurosurgeon, Dr. Charles Cobbs, who operated on the woman, believes an amoeba entered into her bloodstream through the upper nasal cavity. Finally, it reached her brain and caused a fatal infection. Though it’s a rare incident, the doctor said it could happen to anyone.

There are 4 types of water you can safely use in your neti pot. Those are:

1. Reverse Osmosis water
2. Distilled water
3. Bottled water
4. Boiled water

3.1 Reverse osmosis water for neti pots

Reverse Osmosis (RO) water is by far the safest water for neti pots. A reverse osmosis filter forces water to go through a permeable membrane usually known as the Reverse Osmosis Membrane. The pore size of this membrane is 0.0001 millimeters. Nothing but pure water can go through this membrane.

Does reverse osmosis remove amoebas? The average size of a brain-eating amoeba is 8-15 micrometers. Even the smallest amoeba is 8000 times bigger than the pore size of a RO Membrane. So, there is no chance that an amoeba can get past the RO filtration process to contaminate your water.

Not only amoeba, any kind of water contaminants whether it’s organic, organic, or synthetic, can be filtered by a RO water filter. Removing chlorine, heavy metals, lead, copper, chromium, cyst, fluoride, microplastics from water is a child’s play for a reverse osmosis water filter. The RO filtration process is so delicate that it can even remove dissolved solids from your water.

Best reverse osmosis water filter for neti pots

In case you are a long-term user of neti pots, perhaps getting a RO water filter for your home would be a smart choice. We understand the upfront cost of an RO water filter is a bit much. But if you divide the total cost by the number of days, your daily cost can go down to 30 cents.

For example, an RO water filter costs around 300 bucks, and every year (after the first year ends) you will need to spend 60-70 dollars to change the cartridges.
Since a good quality RO water filter can easily last 5+ years, your total cost would be
$300 + 70 *4 (first year’s filter cartridges come in the box) = $580. And your daily cost would be ($580/ 5 years) 30 cents per day. Only for 30 cents, you will get hundreds of gallons of pure water every day. You can keep yourself and your family safe from any kind of waterborne disease.

Compared to bottled water’s cost, medicine bills, and for your safety, 30 cents a day is nothing. Isn’t it?

We have listed 2 of the best-selling reverse osmosis water filters on Amazon. Both of them are our top recommended water filters due to their high water filtering capacity and accuracy. With hundreds of gallons of RO water production, they can certainly fulfill the daily water needs of every family. You can read our complete G2 review here.

For those who live in rented apartments and don’t want to go through the trouble of installation, we recommend the Aquatru Countertop RO Water Filter. It produces about 70-80 gallons of RO water per day.

Both of these water filters are NSF certified and extremely accurate in removing all kinds of water contaminants.

3.2) Distilled water for neti pots

Distilled water refers to water that has been boiled, steamed, and condensed back into liquid. Distilled water is as pure as RO water. So, you can safely use distilled water in your net pots as well.

You can either make distilled water in your house or buy distilled water from the market. To make distilled water in your house, you will need a water distiller. Most water distillers are electric and powerful enough to produce 1-2 liters of distilled in an hour. Top-quality water distillers are FDA approved or CE (European version of FDA) approved, and they also include activated charcoal filters to give you better-tasting water.

And if you want to buy distilled water from the market, make sure it’s from a well-reputed company that follows the standards of CDC and FDA.

Best Electric Water distiller for neti pots

If you have decided to use distilled water in your neti pots, you might be interested in the CO-Z 1 Gallon Water Distiller. It is one of the best-selling electric water distillers due to its top-class build quality, fast water distilling rate, safety features, and efficiency.
It’s a stainless steel made water distiller that comes with a big 1-gallon Carafe. It also houses an activated charcoal filter that removes volatile organic contaminants from water.
CO-Z is an FDA-approved electric water distiller that can produce ¼ gallon per hour, up to 6 gallons of distilled water per day. For that, it uses 750 watts of electricity.
For your safety, it has an automatic power-off button that gets self-activated when the temperature exceeds 320F.
This long-lasting 100% BPA-free electric water distiller comes with a 1-year limited warranty.

3.3) Bottled water for neti pots

Can you use bottled water for neti pot? Yes. As a quick and affordable solution, you can also use bottled water for your neti pot. Because major bottled water companies in the USA, like Aquafina, Dasani, Nestle Glaceau SmartWater use reverse osmosis water purification systems to purify their water. They also use a combination of other purification processes like ozone sterilization, distillation, and ultraviolet.

If you buy other branded bottled water, look for a RO water filtration certificate on the label.

3.4) Boiled Water for neti pots

There is a reason why we recommend using boiled water for neti pots at the very end. Sure, boiling water kills brain-eating amoeba and other pathogenic bacteria. But what about other water contaminants like microplastics, uranium, chromium 6, magnesium, copper that are as much as dangerous or maybe more than an amoeba. Those contaminants can never be removed by just boiling water.

About 283 million people in the USA rely on municipally supplied water. For those people, boiling water alone may prove to be enough because city water already goes through some kind of filtration process before reaching your house.

But what about the remaining 100 million people who rely on private wells, rivers, lakes, reservoirs for their daily water supply. They are at great risk of having water contaminants in their water. Without an active water filtration system, boiling water alone will never be enough to keep them safe from those fatal contaminants.

4) How long to boil water for the neti pot?

If you have chosen to use boiled water in your neti pot, make sure you boil it for at least 12-15 minutes. Although most known organic organisms, pathogenic bacteria, and viruses get killed within the first 5-6 minutes in boiling water. But just to be extra careful, boil it for 15 minutes anyway.

After boiling, let the water cool down to room temperature and then pour it into your neti pot.

A word of caution,
if the water in your pot looks cloudy right after boiling it, chances are your tap water is contaminated with inorganic molecules. In that case, you will need to filter it before using it in the neti pot.

Once boiled and filtered, that water remains safe for the next 10-12 hours.

5) How often can you use a neti pot?

The most recommended pattern of neti pot usage is every other day, 3 days a week. But if you are using your neti pot to treat allergies, you can use it daily. Remember, excessive usage of neti pots can harm you rather than good. That’s why we always recommend taking the doctor’s opinions first.

6) How to make a saline solution for neti pots?

In order to make a saline solution for your net pot, follow these steps:

• Take 3 tablespoons of iodide-free preservative-free salt and 1 tablespoon of baking soda.
• Mix the dry ingredients well.
• Then take 1 tablespoon of the mixture and pour it in 8 ounces of RO water / distilled water / bottled water or boiled water.
• Use the solution in your neti pot.
• If the solution burns your nasal cavity, make a weaker solution by adding ½ tablespoon of dry ingredient mixer with 8 ounces of water.

7) Are neti pots safe during pregnancy?

Stacy Wiegman, a Sharecare Editorial Advisory Board member & a licensed pharmacist, says using neti pots is generally safe during pregnancy. Normal usage of neti pots can have a negative impact neither on you nor the little one inside you.
In fact, if needed, using a neti pot to rinse nasal cavities during pregnancy is recommended. Because it reduces the need to take medicine to relieve you of allergies and cold symptoms.

F.A.Q

Can you use a neti pot with tap water?

Ans: Absolutely not. You should never use unfiltered tap water in your neti pot.

Can you use spring water in neti pots?

Ans: Spring water is not safe for neti pots.

Can you use alkaline water in the neti pot?

Ans: Alkaline water has dissolved solids in it. So, you can not use it in your neti pot.

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