Why Keeping Open Water Can Be Bad For Your Health
That open jug of water has been in your refrigerator for 2 weeks.
Or maybe you left an partially drank bottle water in your car.
The water must be good right? It was good at one point so obviously nothing bad was added to it, right? So it will stay good indefinitely, right? Definitely wrong.
It's true that no one is likely going to sneak poison into your refrigerator.
So what exactly makes it go bad over time? Bacteria and other microbes make it go bad.
We live in a bacteria world.
Bacteria are everywhere.
On your desk, in your car, on your counter top, on and in you, in the ground, in the water, in the air, these little bugs have made an ecological niche in just about every habitable or even barely habitable niche on the planet.
To give you an example of just how much microscopic organisms there are on the planet, if you took a giant scale, put every macroscopic plant and animal on the world on one side, and every microorganism on the other, there would be much more microbe weight than animal weight.
That is why we live in a bacteria world.
Most of these microbes will not hurt you.
Some are opportunistic, and they can hurt you if you are health compromised in some way.
Some are aggressive and cause disease, but these are relatively rare.
When you leave otherwise clean water in an open jug, or not sealed, with lots of air space, you are giving bacteria an ideal environment to reproduce in.
They come from your fingers, from the air, from your refrigerator.
Your water from the tap is disinfected and has a residual, so that, in combination with cold environments from your refrigerator, will keep growth at bay for at least a week.
However, when these microbes find your water, without residual disinfectant, they can make home.
There are dissolved nutrients in the water they can feed from, some of the same dissolved nutrients our bodies need, too.
Some bacteria can even derive energy from the metal or plastic bottles themselves, or from the secretions of other bacteria.
And it's when these bacteria are too numerous that there is a possibility that a bacteria that could do harm could join the party, so to speak.
Usually it takes a whole host of bad bacteria to cause you harm.
One or a few dozen (depending on the harmful bacteria) are destroyed by your immune system before they can have a chance to gain a foothold.
If they can breed and increase their numbers in another environment, and be consumed in greater numbers, that is when they do harm.
This is why you need to keep your water fresh, and if it is in a sealed bottle, drink it quickly and don't let it sit for long periods of time.
Or maybe you left an partially drank bottle water in your car.
The water must be good right? It was good at one point so obviously nothing bad was added to it, right? So it will stay good indefinitely, right? Definitely wrong.
It's true that no one is likely going to sneak poison into your refrigerator.
So what exactly makes it go bad over time? Bacteria and other microbes make it go bad.
We live in a bacteria world.
Bacteria are everywhere.
On your desk, in your car, on your counter top, on and in you, in the ground, in the water, in the air, these little bugs have made an ecological niche in just about every habitable or even barely habitable niche on the planet.
To give you an example of just how much microscopic organisms there are on the planet, if you took a giant scale, put every macroscopic plant and animal on the world on one side, and every microorganism on the other, there would be much more microbe weight than animal weight.
That is why we live in a bacteria world.
Most of these microbes will not hurt you.
Some are opportunistic, and they can hurt you if you are health compromised in some way.
Some are aggressive and cause disease, but these are relatively rare.
When you leave otherwise clean water in an open jug, or not sealed, with lots of air space, you are giving bacteria an ideal environment to reproduce in.
They come from your fingers, from the air, from your refrigerator.
Your water from the tap is disinfected and has a residual, so that, in combination with cold environments from your refrigerator, will keep growth at bay for at least a week.
However, when these microbes find your water, without residual disinfectant, they can make home.
There are dissolved nutrients in the water they can feed from, some of the same dissolved nutrients our bodies need, too.
Some bacteria can even derive energy from the metal or plastic bottles themselves, or from the secretions of other bacteria.
And it's when these bacteria are too numerous that there is a possibility that a bacteria that could do harm could join the party, so to speak.
Usually it takes a whole host of bad bacteria to cause you harm.
One or a few dozen (depending on the harmful bacteria) are destroyed by your immune system before they can have a chance to gain a foothold.
If they can breed and increase their numbers in another environment, and be consumed in greater numbers, that is when they do harm.
This is why you need to keep your water fresh, and if it is in a sealed bottle, drink it quickly and don't let it sit for long periods of time.
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