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Tap water that has been left to sit out slowly begins to acquire an off taste. Many assume that this is because of micro-organisms. Treated water's added chlorine will take care of small communities of these little guys, but at room temperature they begin to multiply rapidly and can really get the party started. Even with clean water and a clean glass; one sip introduces a host of germs to the mix, in addition to whatever the water may have picked up by ambient dust.
But that's not what makes old water taste stale. For that we can thank carbon dioxide. After about 12 hours tap water starts to go flat as carbon dioxide in the air starts to mix with the water in the glass, lowering its pH and giving it an off taste. But it's most-likely safe to drink.
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As for plastic water bottles that have been left out in the sun or the car, step away from the bottle, warns Dr. Kellogg Schwab, director of the Johns Hopkins University Water Institute. "A chemical called bisphenol-A, or BPA, along with other things used to manufacture plastic can leach into your water if the bottle heats up or sits in the sun," he explains. BPA, as you likely know, is a hormone disruptor has tentatively been linked to everything from heart disease to cancer. Schwab also says that plastic used for bottled water isn't meant to be washed or refilled, so use only one time and recycle. Or way better, don't buy them at all; use a refillable water bottle instead.
I like to let mine sit out until it acquires malarial mosquito larvae.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday July 23 2015, @11:27PM
Best water I ever drank was straight on my hands and knees from a Washington stream. It might have had bugs, microorganisms, animal piss and animal shit in it but damn was it good. Boiling it or using chlorine tablets would have only fucked it up.
As Anthony Bourdain says, 'your body is not a temple, it's a rollercoaster - enjoy the ride.'
(Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 23 2015, @11:29PM
You that old to have gotten a golden shower from Washington?
(Score: 2) by davester666 on Friday July 24 2015, @06:34AM
Didn't know R Kelly was a hiker...
(Score: 2) by Rich on Friday July 24 2015, @01:12AM
Best water I ever drank was ... from a Washington stream.
That wasn't the Savannah river right downstream of Hanford, was it?
Was glowing in the dark part of that great experience?
(Score: 2) by Lagg on Friday July 24 2015, @02:04AM
Leave it to him to say profound stuff about what you put into your body. But yeah this is kind of silly. How about we just drink our fucking water.
The article basically concludes by saying that letting standing water stand will result in algae. I guess it needs to be repeated if people are dumb enough to leave water stored like that but still. No one particularly likes drinking water, but the point is that it quenches and satisfies you. I never finish a bottle of the municipal tap crap in less than a day but it certainly doesn't taste worse because of it. If it did I don't think I'd be able to drink water. We're so quick to underestimate the robustness of our bodies that we'd rather make the same mistake people who overdose on antibiotics do.
I for one do not want humanity to be allergic to untreated water in 500 years.
http://lagg.me [lagg.me] 🗿
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday July 24 2015, @02:23AM
Nobody likes drinking water? Can you not notice the fake chemical taste of shit like Gatorade or Mountain Dew?
Water is great precisely because drinking lots of it doesnt interfere with anything else you eat or drink. Other healthy stuff like juice or kombucha is healthy only if you dont drink too much. There's no significant aftertaste with water.
There's nothing your body wants more than water immediately after a good workout. And I'll say it again, if you arent disgusted by the fake aspartame lab-synthesized taste of sports drinks, then your pallet is permanently ruined, my friend.
(Score: 2, Funny) by kramulous on Friday July 24 2015, @04:19AM
There's nothing your body wants more than
Electrolytes!
(Score: 2) by Subsentient on Friday July 24 2015, @07:05AM
But Brawndo's got electrolytes!
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
(Score: 2) by broggyr on Friday July 24 2015, @02:42PM
It's what the body craves!
Taking things out of context since 1972.
(Score: 2) by Lagg on Friday July 24 2015, @05:01AM
Yeah I notice it. That's why I drink water.
http://lagg.me [lagg.me] 🗿
(Score: 2) by JeanCroix on Friday July 24 2015, @01:59PM
I tried Zima once. So that ship has long since sailed.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 24 2015, @04:25PM
So many things to say.
Firstly, have you noticed who is extolling the benefits of tap water? How is he not modded +5 funny?
Secondly, what the hell is this off taste? I find water that has been allowed to rest and lose its chlorine to taste more like real water than right off the tap. This is with the cap and all the carcinogens in. I don't know what algae water would taste like.
And last but not least, people not drinking water are not going to live long enough to get cancer from reused PET bottles. One of my gandpas. wouldn't drink in order to avoid having to go to the toilet. Guess which one is alive?
(Score: 2) by cmn32480 on Friday July 24 2015, @02:03PM
At almost 12,000 feet above sea level on the west side of Baldy Mountain in New Mexico from a spring coming out of the side of the mountain.
That water was about 36 degrees and was by far the best tasting water I have ever had.
"It's a dog eat dog world, and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear" - Norm Peterson
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday July 24 2015, @03:07PM
I generally applaud what you're saying. For myself, I must say that I prefer the taste of New York City tap water to anything bottled or even the tap water in the town where my family lives in the Rockies, which comes straight to the faucet from a natural spring without treatment and which the town bottles and sells elsewhere around the country. Something about the minerals in the Adirondacks and Catskills where NYC water comes from is quite tasty. There are even many who claim it is NYC water that makes New York bagels the best [qz.com].
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 24 2015, @09:26PM
Best water I ever drank was straight on my hands and knees from a Washington stream.
So when was the last time you drank water Mr Ethanol-fueled? ;)