The central element of any reverse osmosis water filter is the semi-permeable reverse osmosis membrane. Of course, the membrane alone is not sufficient to deal with every and all types of tap water contaminants, which is why most reverse osmosis filters are complex, multi-stage systems that comprise several types of filter media (e.g. activated carbon, ceramics, polypropylene, etc.) to achieve the in-depth filtration reverse osmosis systems are known for.
The maintenance of a reverse osmosis filter involves the periodic replacement of the filter cartridges that make up the system along with the replacement of the RO membrane. While replacing the filter cartridges in a reverse osmosis system is a straightforward and simple process, replacing the RO membrane follows a slightly different procedure.