Every consumable on earth has an expiration date, be it any freshly grown crop or processed food. What about water? Water has been on earth way before life. Every drop of water you see has been urinated by living beings and recycled by the earth’s water cycle. The water you drink has passed through the kidneys of Socrates, Plato, Genghis Khan, Aristotle, and even the dinosaurs drank water. By the law of conservation of mass, water on earth is constant and will continue to do so.
One thing everyone might have observed is that packed water bottles have expiration dates on them, why is it so? The same water flowing in the rivers has been drank for ages but packaged drinking water bottles have a ‘best before xx24’ on them, why is it so? Your mother tells you to not drink the water from the vessel that has been left overnight on the table, why is it so? At first glance your answer can be “living room not clean, dust might have settled in water”. But there are a lot of factors which deem water to be unfit for consumption.
Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss
If you have observed small ponds, it is certain they are covered with moss and algae, stagnant water allows itself to house deposits of various organic materials, now if we scale this down to water in a vessel, it allows it microscopic particles in the air to deposit itself on it, which can be pollen, dust mites or anything else. Depending on room temperature and other parameters, it can allow harmful bacteria to thrive which can be perilous to one’s health.
Chlorinated Water
Ever wondered why pool water has a weird taste? It’s chlorine, chlorine is added to water as a disinfectant, to eradicate bacteria, which can harm you, it can be a disinfectant, but chlorinated water stored for a prolonged duration can be harmful. Chlorine when added in excess can damage the human body, excess of it can harm your skin and when it is inside it can cause nausea, vomiting etc.
Tap Water
Tap water is always water which is stored in a tank which is drawn by a pipe, and that is accessible when you turn on the tap, at the end of the day, tap water is still water which is filling our glasses. So storing them is not advisable. Even if you do, it must not be stored for a long time.
Bottled Water
Now you might have a question, exposed water can harm us, but what about sealed water? How can it damage you when nothing contaminates it?
The answer to this is very simple, it is for the container and not the water, plastic bottles When prolonged to heat break down into microplastics and upon consumption, it will deposit themselves in your body, and this, when done repeatedly, is fatal, it is already observed after numerous tests that humans have a lot of microplastics in them and it is increasing every generation.
The oceans and rivers which are dumped with plastics have been contaminated with said microplastics, the turbulent currents of the water and heat from the sun are breaking down the plastics and it is flowing into the tributaries of their respective rivers which are responsible for our domestic needs.
