Bottled water is a common commodity for people on the go, but did you know that it can have an expiration date?
Depending on the brand, a bottle can last as long as two years or have a shelf life of only three months. Every water bottle sheds chemicals just by being in contact with water. Improperly stored water can grow toxic or contaminated over time, so it’s important to know the difference between water that tastes “off” and water that could make you sick.
Contaminated water can have musty, moldy, marshy, sour, or rancid flavors, and microbes can slip into the bottle, often during the packaging process or transport. If you drink the bottle right away, the microbes probably won’t have time to reproduce to any great extent, but if you leave a bottle in sunlight for an extended period, you’ll create a warm, stable environment for them to multiply.
While some microbes may give you fever or upset stomach, others could give you severe diarrhea that’s enough to send you to the hospital.
To salvage expired bottled water, experts recommend filtering it through an activated charcoal filter or boiling it for one minute to kill off almost all pathogens.