Can Water Go Bad?

Water is essential for life, and we typically assume that water is "clean" or "good" provided you're not getting your water from a contaminated source. But can water ever "go bad"?

If you have a water filtration system in your home, it may not occur to you that your water could become contaminated after a while—until you go to clean out the holding tank, that is.

If you fail to regularly clean out the holding tank of a reverse osmosis filter, it could lead to an absolute mess of microbial growth that is certainly NOT going to produce clean, pure water when you turn on the tap.

And, as noted by Dr. Kellogg Schwab, director of the Johns Hopkins University Water Institute in a recent Time article, factors such as ambient temperature and exposure to sunlight and/or your lips can introduce microorganisms into your water glass or bottle, if left out for extended periods of time, which can then begin to thrive under the right conditions.

Reusing disposable plastic water bottles also has its risks, as discussed in the featured Huffington Post article. In short, water could "go bad" if you store it improperly, reuse dirty bottles, or fail to regularly clean your water filtration system.