Just opened a 5 gallon bucket of tap water I had filled and sealed 3 years ago. This is what it looks like:

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ATXSmart@reddit

It would be interesting to see what the results of a water test would reveal.

[-]

OperationMobocracy@reddit

One of the few useful comments.

Maybe in tandem with a sample of “fresh” water from the tap to rule out general issues with the water unrelated to storage.

[-]

Everyone is worrying about whether the chlorine treated municipal tap water is still safe, while lots of us have tap water that comes straight out of a well, and gets no treatment, or in my case, just a run through the water softener...

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BarronMind@reddit

Based in the picture, I'm guessing the results of a "water test" would be Positive.

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cyanescens_burn@reddit

Positive for cholera?

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ATXSmart@reddit

And amoebas

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SuperSynapse@reddit

We gonna boil and do a taste test?

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ElderScarletBlossom@reddit

If you have access to a good microscope, or know someone who does, it'd be interesting to find out what, if anything, is in it.

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modern_medicine_isnt@reddit

"If anything"? It was tap water, so there was already organisms in it to start with. Those few drops of chlorine aren't going to kill them all.
So now there are just more. :)

I often think it would probably be easier to store mostly waater filtering apparatus instead of the water itself. Depends on if you have acces to natural water nearby I suppose. But I just can't imagine most people refresh their water stores as often as they should.

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oswaldcopperpot@reddit

What dumb take is this? And why did anyone upvote it? Life requires energy. Three years in a chlorinated bucket… anything in tap water is unlikely to reproduce with zero resources. This is all levels of uneducated nonsense. Basic biology should be a prep guide for preppers.

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tvtb@reddit

Actually those few drops of chlorine might actually be enough to kill them all and keep stuff from growing, especially if it’s enough that OP claims there is still a little bleach odor. You need very little to sanitize water, if you’re willing to wait a long time to declare it safe.

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Paranormal_Lemon@reddit

A few drops of bleach, even combined with the chlorine already in tap water, is a microbial growth inhibitor, not a sanitizer. Eventually the chlorine will degrade enough for them to start growing again. There are many variables that can affect it, so 6 months is suggested to be safe in most situations. Adding bleach to tap can extend that a little more probably to a year.

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holistivist@reddit

Presumably you can just add a bit more bleach/chlorine years later to make it potable again, yeah?

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Paranormal_Lemon@reddit

You can, but sodium hyprochlorite in bleach degrades into sodium chlorate which is much more toxic, so generally you don't want to do that. I suppose it might be OK if you are planning to consume immediately and not letting it sit and degrade more.

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TheBlackGuru@reddit

The chlorate byproduct is rare/trace as long as you are using fresh bleach. Any significant chlorate usually comes from using old bleach that has already partially decomposed under conditions ripe for chlorate production.

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Paranormal_Lemon@reddit

Bleach is constantly decomposing though, after one year at room temperature 50% has decomposed.

I looked into this a while ago. It either decomposes into chlorate or oxygen. I've kept bleach in sealed containers that completely decomposed but did not build any pressure do to oxygen. It's hard to find info on what happens in dilute solutions at room temp.

So you are saying the chlorate would already be in the bleach from using old bleach?

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TheBlackGuru@reddit

It generally decomposes into salt and oxygen. The chlorate path is a specific one that happens under specific conditions. Generally if you use fresh bleach in water it's going to decompose (pretty quickly) into salt and oxygen. When it's stored at high concentration and high pH and warm it tends to favor the chlorate path more and then using that to add to water will directly add chlorate. Bottom line use fresh bleach to treat water, there might be trace amounts of chlorate at the end of the day but not enough to worry about.

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Paranormal_Lemon@reddit

It's hard to find an actual source for this.

This is from Google AI

"At room temperature (approx. 23°C), dilute sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) undergoes slow decomposition, primarily forming chlorate ( ) and chloride ( ) ions"

I found this paper a while ago that says:

"I t is apparent from these results that the main reaction in the decompositioii of sodium hypochlorite is the oiie to chlorate, and only a small part goes to oxygen."

"These results show that sodium hydroxide has a negligible effect apart from its contribution to the ionic strength."

" there is a si~nul- taneous unimolecular decomposition to oxygen"

which was proportional to the hypochlorite concentration

Do you have any sources on this subject?

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TheBlackGuru@reddit

This is just from memory, ha. We talked about it in chemistry class a long (long) time ago but it's also been a thing we've used in hiking as well as military survival classes for a long time. RV folks use it too for their holding tanks. Bottom line I would be far more concerned about what the bleach is killing than any trace chlorate that ends up in the water. You're using a couple drops per quart, not massive quantities of bleach that you are waiting to break down into salt water to drink.

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Paranormal_Lemon@reddit

My main concern is with using it to re-treat water multiple times. I've seen the question asked on here more than once - can you just keep re-treating the water every 6 months? That's why I started looking into it, and it was hard to find any definitive info from an academic or other reputable source. I've seen chlorine dioxide treatments available for sale, they are supposed to be good for 5 years, but I haven't found one from a company that I would trust. Personally I bleach treat RO water and rotate about once a year.

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TheBlackGuru@reddit

Interesting yeah I guess that would definitely change the considerations. Curious what the long end of that would look like, good reason to ensure you're using fresh bleach at least I suppose. That would definitely be a good hip pocket number to have though, after X treatment cycles (assuming room for one final treatment before consumption) make sure to rotate/replace.

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Paranormal_Lemon@reddit

, good reason to ensure you're using fresh bleach at least I suppose

Yes for sure. I will always boil if I have the resources, over chemical treatment, but it would be good to know.

I wonder how clean the bleach is that you can make from an electrolysis generator with salt water?

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War_Hymn@reddit (OP)

If I recall, it takes elevated temperatures and/or low PH conditions for the chlorates to form in any meaningful amounts. Though, temperatures as low as 80'F can push this reaction path. From a New Jersey study on chlorate residue in liquid bleach used for local water treatment, chlorate ion levels in sampled liquid bleach stock were as high as 22 parts per thousand in one storage tank during the summer.

Though, this is in concentrated liquid bleach that contained 10-12 percent hypochlorite. So in an entire gallon jug of household bleach with say 6-7 percent hypochlorite solution, there possibly might be 50-60 grams of chlorates in a very old bottle of bleach that had been left out in the hot sun?

If you added half a millilitre of that bleach to 5 gallons of water for the intent of sanitizing it, you risk consuming about 0.4 parts per million of chlorate from consuming that water. I believe the limit for chlorate in drinking water here in Canada is 1 ppm.

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MassiveBeard@reddit

Wouldn’t it be easier to supplement with UV light before closing it up?

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Paranormal_Lemon@reddit

Well the chlorine reduces the bacteria and also inhibits growth, until the chlorine levels start to drop because of decompostion. UV would greatly reduce the bacteria but not inhibit growth. I think UV would be an option for consuming treated water that had sit for too long though, although I'd rather boil if I had the means. UV is a very energy efficient method if your electric resources are limited.

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modern_medicine_isnt@reddit

Municipalities put a little chlorine in the water too. It doesn't kill everything, it just knocks it down a lot. Completely sanitized water is extremely difficult to make. Similar to jow hospitals can't completely steralize and operating room. They can just get close.

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Paranormal_Lemon@reddit

Yup you would need an industrial facility in order to make a sealed container of sterile water, or something like a jarring or canning process that you can only do with small containers at home.

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modern_medicine_isnt@reddit

And even for industrial operators it's not so easy. That is their justification for an expiration date on bottled water. Though the date they choose is to drive more sales. It stays safe to drink far longer. But there are still organsims in their. Just not a lot.

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Paranormal_Lemon@reddit

Yeah you are right, even bottled water is not completely sterile.

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ponycorn_pet@reddit

What about distilled water?

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Paranormal_Lemon@reddit

Apparently not completely unless it's specifically sold as such

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ponycorn_pet@reddit

Jfc, well TIL

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modern_medicine_isnt@reddit

complete sterilization is extremely hard. There are soo many living things just floating around in the air. Even if you have a bottle of sterile water, as soon as you open it. Not sterile any longer. We carry so many bugs around with us everyday that anything we touch isn't sterile anymore. Of course, you don't need sterile water, just potable.

But hospitals go through great lengths to keep the operating rooms clean. But even the patient brings living organisms in with them. For some procedures they have you shower with some super anti-bacterial soap stuff that is like prescription only, just to knock down the number of bugs on your person. Then they still attempt to sterilize the surgery site again in the operating room. And with all that, people still get infections.

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BigCompetition8821@reddit

Potable water from a real water treatment facility does not have any living organisms in it. If it does, they aren’t doing something right. We also take samples miles away from the plant to verify this.

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modern_medicine_isnt@reddit

Those tests are mostly testing for chemicals, not organisms. There is a test for e.coli. And some test for some other common bugs. But they don't even have tests that can detect all organisms. It simply doesn't exist. And maybe your place is special... but most have an allowable limit, not a zero limit. The tests themselves aren't even 100% accurate. They have a margin of error all their own. So there is no way that "Potable water from a real water treatment facility does not have any living organisms in it". Even if they boiled it clean. Contaminants would get in during the trip to "miles" away from the plant. Fortunately the human digestive system can handle a fair amount of living organisms in our water. That is the difference between potable and sterile (which would be no living organisms).

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War_Hymn@reddit (OP)

Water treatment plants typically dechlorinate treated water - using either chemicals like sodium bisulphite or UV/sunlight exposure - down to a minimum level, since drinking heavily chlorinated water isn't good for you or the plumbing infrastructure they run through.

My city keeps it at 2 ppm when it runs out the treatment plant. In my case, the water has been chlorinated twice since they treat again purchased water from another municipality. Obviously, there could and would be contamination points down the line when you got a few hundred miles of decades or century old pipes in the system, but most of us have a working immune system. In a well-maintained and monitored municipal water supply the level of microbiological contamination is low enough that it won't pose an immediate health issue for the population it serves.

That being said, I personally still boil or filter my tap water before drinking.

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ManyThingsLittleTime@reddit

They need something to consume or they'll die too.

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modern_medicine_isnt@reddit

Do you eat live food. I don't. All the organisms you did kill with the treatment are the food that the survivors eat. They will do just fine. You are really just trying to keep them in check, so they don't get too numerous that your digestive system can't handle them. But they are still there.

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rebo2@reddit

There’s no nutrients in water so they can’t breed.

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modern_medicine_isnt@reddit

That sounds amazingly simple. Because it isn't true. So ask yourself this. Do you eat things that are still alive? I don't. So say you have a bunch of living organism in water. Then you kill most of it with chlorine or something. The dead organisms are in fact exactly what they eat so they can breed. Now you have a tiny population and a large food supply.

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Paranormal_Lemon@reddit

Even RO purified water has enough in there for a biofilm to grow after a year or two.

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War_Hymn@reddit (OP)

Depends on where you are, but tap water in my city is pretty clean and safe to drink as par our provincial government standards. A few drops of (fresh) chlorine bleach per 5 gallon is definitely enough to sanitize whatever is left in it and make it potable. You only need about 5 ppm of free chlorine to kill any bacteria/fungi/viruses in clear water, and 10-15 ppm is usually the dosage water purification kits or tablets aim for for stuff you scoop out a well or lake.

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modern_medicine_isnt@reddit

So the difference between sanitized and potable is pretty significant. First of all, chlorine doesn't kill everything anyway. Some things survive it just fine. But are their enough of them to cause you trouble, probably not. So it would be potable, but not sanitized.

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War_Hymn@reddit (OP)

Definitely a concern for anyone prepping on running a research lab or hospital. But in this case, it was just water meant for washing dishes or cleaning.

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modern_medicine_isnt@reddit

yeah, so potable. Using the right word matters. And in our new AI driven world, it is going to matter even more.

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Paranormal_Lemon@reddit

Yup, bleach treated water is not completely sanitized, it's just made safe to drink (usually, there is a chance it's not, boiling is always better).

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Good-Bread-4791@reddit

That’s what I do there are several ponds in close proximity to me and I stock pile life straws but I also have 4 55 gallon food grade drums I cycle water through annually

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buddy843@reddit

Look into pool shock as an emergency prep. Never goes bad as long as it stays dry. $8 for a pound (68% hypo chlorite) and that will purify 10,000 gallons.

Just make sure to print out the EPA directions and tape to the bag.

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lr99999@reddit

A completely sealed 55 gallon water barrel filled with properly chlorinated tap water will last for a 5 year rotation. The smaller containers will also last if they are tightly sealed. I dump those every summer in my flower bed, though. If you don’t have highly rated municipal water you don’t want to do this at all. In that case, you need to use a filter and tabs. If you’re forced to use tablets, you might as well get the tablets for both crypto and Giardia.

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SafetySmurf@reddit

Many of us store both the water and the means to filter it when it is time to use it. I also store purification tablets of different varieties.

My filter won’t help me much if there is no running water and I don’t have any stored. The water won’t help me much if it has become contaminated in some way and I don’t have a way to clean it. Seems like both are needed.

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modern_medicine_isnt@reddit

I have a source of natural water a few hundred yards from my house. I would drink it straight for a variety of reasons, the least of which is that it doesn't move much in the summer. It's not stagnant, but close in those months. But it would filter just fine.

I wonder if a lot of people don't live closer to a water source than they think. Or maybe it's just because I live in the pacific northwest.

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AlternativeBreath565@reddit

that is my system, but I have close access to resonably high quality water. though I store a few 15l dunks just because I can.

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Lillianrik@reddit

I would do some sort of treatment to the water before drinking it or using it as a cooking liquid but it would still be fine, IMO, for bathing.

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Paranormal_Lemon@reddit

You typically need to do cultures, not just look at it under a scope.

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sassyalyce@reddit

I had gathered several bottles of glacier water from the Athabaskan glacier about eight years ago. Two plus years later I was out working in the yard and come in through the basement and saw a bottle of water without thinking about it. I grabbed it, opened it up and drank it all in one swallow, and it was the best tasting bottled water I have ever had and I looked at it and I realized oh my God that was the stuff I brought from the glacier years ago. It tasted like it did the day I took it from the glacier. I was waiting for my stomach to start rumbling and it never happened.

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SwordsAfar@reddit

Run it all through a good filter and it's potable!

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OneLastPrep@reddit

Yup, that's water alright.

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Ruthless4u@reddit

But is it wet?

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infinitum3d@reddit

Water isn’t wet. Water makes things wet. 😘

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CanadaFootyFan@reddit

Why can’t the water make the water it is touching wet?

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CleUrbanist@reddit

Cuz then it’d drown!

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unintendedfrogs@reddit

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wet

According to Merriam-Webster, water is wet. Emphasis on "consisting of...water"

1a: consisting of, containing, covered with, or soaked with liquid (such as water)

Even if you use wet as a noun, the very first definition is water.

wet 2 of 3 noun

1 : water

It's in the definition.

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Paranormal_Lemon@reddit

Those dictionary people don't know physics, you can't trust them.

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Fossilhog@reddit

🥵

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TenOfZero@reddit

No, water is not wet, but it can make other things wet. :-)

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Paranormal_Lemon@reddit

Exactly, wet my ass, it's a wetting agent.

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TenOfZero@reddit

Exactly. Is fire flammable? No, you can't set fire on fire, it already is.

Can you dry pants that got wet and they stay pants? Yes Can you dry water and it stays water, no?

I will die on this semantic hill, water is not wet.

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OneLastPrep@reddit

If it has dehydrated some, add some water and stir to rehydrate.

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ciaomain@reddit

"I bought some powdered water, but I don’t know what to add."

--Steven Wright

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wandpapierkritiker@reddit

you mean, like, out of the toilet…?

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Intelligent_Word5188@reddit

Have it tested in a laboratory, you will know for sure if it is ok.

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WTFisThatSMell@reddit

Yup looks like water

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jagen-x@reddit

Pour off 1 pint or 500 ml and compress until the water is at the top, then freeze it, it expands back to its shape and stores a lot longer. We have a second hand chest freezer filled with them

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firedrakes@reddit

Some one else doing that. Nice

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Ok-Accountant3391@reddit

Interesting , I decided instead of storing a lot of water to store equipment , to make water or chemicals to purify water.

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Motorcyclegrrl@reddit

I too favor tools over goods storage. Any tips on equipment I should be considering?

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branm008@reddit

A really good dual stage gravity filter is always a solid option and a simple butane camping stove/pot to boil it after filtering. Both of these are super compact when not in use with the exception of the fuel but those canisters aren't too bad overall.

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Motorcyclegrrl@reddit

I have a Sawyer filter at the moment. Find for personal use but definitely not family size. I can see how a gravity filter is a solid investment. I have an alcohol burner rather than butane. I would not hurt to get a butane burner. They are cheap. Always good to have an assortment of devices to take advantage of what might be available in a crisis.

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crazy-bisquit@reddit

So you don’t store water at all? Admittedly, I’m not an expert, but you still have to rely on a water source so that doesn’t seem very wise.

Change my mind?

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Buttermilk-Waffles@reddit

That sure is some water

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War_Hymn@reddit (OP)

Vintage Tap Water. 3 YRS. $50 for 5 gal. No lowballers. I know what I got.

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Buttermilk-Waffles@reddit

But it is antibiotic and steroid free??

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randynumbergenerator@reddit

Free of chemicals, including dihydrogen monoxide!

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LSTNYER@reddit

"Is it still available?" And then I will ghost you as soon as you reply

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Paranormal_Lemon@reddit

The best I can do is $3.50. Meet me behind the dumpster at Walmart at midnight.

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LSTNYER@reddit

Gah damnit lochness monsta! Git your own damn tap water!

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buckGR@reddit

Fiddy bucks

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F1ghtmast3r@reddit

But I can get 8 buckets of potato salad for $70

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randynumbergenerator@reddit

You gotta be kidding buddy. I only pay that price for raw, unvaxxed water!

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nicegirl555@reddit

Microplastics raising it's hand.👋

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BarrelCacti@reddit

I have a 6 gallon glass jug I bought and filled up a decade ago with RO water. Still looks good.

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patogo@reddit

Back about 1977 the Govt decided to end the Civil Defense Fall Out Shelters. Over 100 17-1/2 gallon cans of water i opened and dumped. Was in a sealed bag and clear as could be. Smelled like a swimming pool. Packed about 1962…

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That-Ad-8323@reddit

If it’s sealed then the chlorine won’t evaporate out so I’d think it would be okay

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SensibleBrownPants@reddit

That looks like the water from my childhood.

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ragun2@reddit

It looks like water from three years ago to me.

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PraxicalExperience@reddit

With presumably no nutrients added and residual chlorine still in the water, that water's almost certainly still potable.

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Johnnysocks10@reddit

I want to store some tap water but I have to use a water softener in my home. Don't know if I have to treat it if I decide to consume it rather than cook or clean with it. Any insight would be appreciated.

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War_Hymn@reddit (OP)

Shouldn't be a concern if your tap water is safe to drink as-is, since all the water softener does is switch out calcium and magnesium atoms in the minerals within the tap water with more soluble sodium atoms impregnated in the water softener's resin beads. The sodium level of the water would higher though, so if you're on a low sodium restriction then drinking water from it might be a concern.

Still, using liquid bleach or water purification tablets should sanitize it and keep the stored water gunk free from stuff like mold or bacteria. Though, I know some places don't have the best water quality so maybe you'll want to test it for stuff like lead or mercury contamination beforehand.

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Left-is-CringeMirror@reddit

Did you try tasting it? The spring water we get for our water cooler is only good for 4-6 months, at most. After that time, the plastic taste is so strong, I'd rather drink from a garden hose.

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Johnnysocks10@reddit

Thank you for the reply. My town has hard water hence the water softener. I was concerned about the higher sodium content, however I am not on a low sodium diet. Just remember the company that installed it said not to drink too much of it.

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Femveratu@reddit

👍🏽

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BlueAndean@reddit

Sir that water is wet.

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Damean1@reddit

OP dm'd me and said they added plenty of desiccant to it, it's fine.

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stamina4655@reddit

No, its not.

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northernwolf3000@reddit

My bucket of dehydrated tap water is just as clean as the day i dehydrated it.

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alter3d@reddit

Dehydrated water is fine, but I go the extra step and freeze dry mine. Better texture when you use it.

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stephenph@reddit

I have a well that usually tests clean, occasionally we will get a bacteria bloom that we need to treat. We have a whole house genny that will be minimally used in the event of trouble (a couple freezers, the well pump and some lights and some misc loads.). I am also working on a solar system I can leverage if needed. By my calculations I will have at least enough for the freezers and well for all but the worst conditions.

Not too concerned about water quality unless something is done on purpose. The aquifer I am hitting is deeper than most of the other homes in the area and I get decent refresh rate and volume.

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Firefly_Magic@reddit

I had a large water cooler outside that filled with rain water and at some point the lid was closed. 5 or more years later when I moved, I removed the lid and the water looked perfectly clean. I was expecting a mess to clean out but it wasn’t even slimy.

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remembermemories@reddit

I'd love to see this under the microscope

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Emotional_Seat_7424@reddit

Water rotaion is a great idea, but this really should be a lesson to all, water itself don't go bad and microbes only spoils if conditions allow.

And clean water i stored in a clean, non transparent sealed container does not satisfy conditions for microbial proliferation to any extend, add to that a pretreatment of bleach and you have really given the buggers shitty conditions.

It might have an off taste from the plastic but will not kill you are make you ill.

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Paranormal_Lemon@reddit

microbes only spoils if conditions allow.

OP never said they drank it and did not get sick

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Practical-Ad-2842@reddit

Thanks for sharing the picture of vintage 2021 water. I heard it was a perfect mix that year. Actually, I do thank you. I’ll be on the hunt for buckets and lids, to try out this potion, in my own home.

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Paranormal_Lemon@reddit

I have some 2019 for sale, PM if interested.

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Childrenoftheflorist@reddit

The real question is what will you do with it now that you have it?

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Paranormal_Lemon@reddit

Make something wet probably, what else is it good for?

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Childrenoftheflorist@reddit

*looks at wife

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War_Hymn@reddit (OP)

Reseal, open again in 3 years.

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Childrenoftheflorist@reddit

!remindme3years

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SatansMoisture@reddit

Nice!

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War_Hymn@reddit (OP)

I was half expecting a bucket of swirling mold water with a portal to Chthulu's den. Not sure if the water is potable as-is, but probably safe enough for washing or cooking.

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SatansMoisture@reddit

Must be the chlorine and lack of algae producing sunlight?

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War_Hymn@reddit (OP)

Probably. The thing is chlorine eventually dissipates, but I guess the lid seal kept it viable for longer than usual or the water had nothing to feed growth.

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CaliRefugeeinTN@reddit

We get random power outages a couple times a year, and frozen pipes once or twice a year. We have to store water so we can flush when pipes are frozen, and this would actually be perfect, better than the gallon jugs we reuse.

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FedInformant@reddit

Theres a pretty easy fix for preventing water from freezing, no?

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CaliRefugeeinTN@reddit

No, there isn’t.

We repiped out entire house after moving in. All freeze proof pex. Meter to the house and the entire house.

It’s not freezing in my house. It’s freezing under the street, the country’s pipes, where it comes up to ground level to start going towards my house.

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FedInformant@reddit

Oh wow, thats crazy. Sorry I just assumed it was something on your end of things. What general region do you live that they would run a water service line that way? They should have to fix that

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CaliRefugeeinTN@reddit

East tn. Rarely drops the ground temp to below freezing, but there’s always at least one cold spell in January where it’s below zero outside still happen.

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infinitum3d@reddit

Name checks out

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palbertalamp@reddit

Make sure you use food grade bleach,

NSF/ANSI Standard 60: Drinking Water Treatment Chemicals

not cleaning bleach.

Only about 6% of all bleach sold is food grade, but it's fairly widely available.

The household cleaning bleach used at 10 ppm or so in water won't kill you, at least not right away. But the right hand side of the chemical reaction of cleaning bleach, versus food grade, does have chemicals that you shouldn't be drinking medium term

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War_Hymn@reddit (OP)

Yep, the "splash-less" bleach should definitely be avoided since they add other stuff to it.

Personally, I've switched to using chlorine tablets for emergency water treatement. Less guesswork, especially since a lot of bleach sold where I am don't even bother to print the percent level of hypchlorites. Longer shelf life, since these tablets typically have a stabilizer added, while household liquid bleach will eventually break down into sodium chloride (table salt) over time.

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Quereller@reddit

I just thinking under which conditions water can get bad. One thing is leaching chemicals from the container or air. The bigger problem is microbial growth. For something to grow it needs building blocks of life and a source of energy. If you store the water protected from light there is very little which a micro organism can use as energy source. Without energy it also cannot synthesize the necessary ingredients for itself to grow.

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War_Hymn@reddit (OP)

There this mold that grows in my area and seems to live in the air that basically produces a white sludge in any standing liquid after several days. Once, I had it sprout out in a sealed glass vial of 70% isopropyl alcohol I kept a medical tweezer in. I was surprised nothing like that grew in this bucket.

[-]

Paranormal_Lemon@reddit

RO systems with a TDS of <2 ppm will grow a biofilm in the lines and filter housings, even if they are opaque. It's recommended to do a compete sanitizing every 2 years for any system used for drinking water.

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Quereller@reddit

Fascinating, even with so little resources available something can grow.

Life finds a way ;-)

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holistivist@reddit

I think anabolic composters would disagree with you.

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SeriousGoofball@reddit

You can buy water test kits on Amazon. You can test for bacterial growth and mold/fungus if you want.

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War_Hymn@reddit (OP)

Guess I can, but this wasn't meant to be a full on scientific test XD. I rather spend the money on more water purification tablets.

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bondinchas@reddit

That's why when I fill my water containers, I always do it early in the morning. For some reason the tap water in my area always smells more of chlorine early in the morning.

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alrashid2@reddit

I believe that's normal for tap water. It's chlorinated so nothing is going to grow in that...

As for well water, well, that's another story lol. My water can get growth in it in 3 days if I don't treat it haha

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SunLillyFairy@reddit

Good experiment! I have years old water in 55 gallon drums... the ones we checked still looked great (we have not opened most of them because we went to avoid contamination ). Personally, if I use it for anything other than gardening, I still plan to boil and/or filter. Honestly they are just big and awkward and we have not taken the time to change them out... and per USDA water is good indefinitely if treated and sealed properly.

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phoneacct696969@reddit

Post is basically useless with out at least a test strip. They’re like 12 bucks online.

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Paranormal_Lemon@reddit

It's the microbes you need to worry about

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War_Hymn@reddit (OP)

It's tap water. Not sure exactly what you want me to test for since those test strips only tell me if there's heavy metals or stuff like nitrites in my water.

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WorldlyBuy1591@reddit

Hope you didnt pour it out. There are families living in there you monster

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Chaos-Pand4@reddit

I’m pretty sure I have a couple of old gallon jugs of water that I didn’t do anything whatsoever to sitting on the bottom shelf of my plant table. Gotta be 2-3 years old now.

I’m not saying I would drink it, but I just checked and they both totally just look like jugs of water.

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Onlyroad4adrifter@reddit

This is the reason lake mead is almost empty.

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DoctorTim007@reddit

Wut

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Paranormal_Lemon@reddit

STOP HOARDING ALL THE WATER NEXT THE OCEANS WILL DRY UP

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hadtobethetacos@reddit

You ok?

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Pelthail@reddit

Drink it you coward!

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Few-Money-6274@reddit

I Dehydrate mine first makes it last longer .

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Paranormal_Lemon@reddit

Most of the microbes, including harmful ones, grow as a biofilm on the surface of the container. The film is disturbed when you take water out of it and the germs will get into the water.

Chances are it's fine, but there's also a chance it could make you sick.

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Wow, mind blown.

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