WEBVTT - Can Water Go Bad?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey, brain

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff is Christian Seger. I'm going to answer a question

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<v Speaker 1>for you, but you know what I'm gonna do. I'm

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<v Speaker 1>gonna ask it for you first. Does water ever go bad?

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<v Speaker 1>The answer actually is not really, but it depends on

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<v Speaker 1>how you store it. If you take some water in

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<v Speaker 1>a bowl or a vase or something that's open, and

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<v Speaker 1>you leave it outside and then you come back after

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<v Speaker 1>a few days it's hot and maybe you drink it,

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<v Speaker 1>you'll have just drank a lot of well, probably algae, mosquito, larva,

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<v Speaker 1>and just a bunch of crud that you probably don't want.

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<v Speaker 1>It's stagnant water that's been left out to the elements,

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<v Speaker 1>and that, in a sense, is water going bad. But

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<v Speaker 1>if you have some water, say that you buy in

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<v Speaker 1>like a bottle form that you never opened, and you

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<v Speaker 1>store it for a few years, no, it's probably not

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<v Speaker 1>going to go bad. But be warned. Water can leech

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<v Speaker 1>stuff from its surrounding environment. So let's say that you've

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<v Speaker 1>got an onion and you put it in one of

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<v Speaker 1>those onion holder things that looks like an onion, but

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<v Speaker 1>it's made of plastic. I don't know what those are.

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<v Speaker 1>But if you have one of these holders for your

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<v Speaker 1>onions and you put a gallon of water in there,

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<v Speaker 1>it's gonna leach the onion flavors in your water. It's

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<v Speaker 1>gonna taste like onions, and that's totally natural. It doesn't

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<v Speaker 1>mean that there's anything actually bad going on, although that

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<v Speaker 1>does also mean that water can leach chemicals from say

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<v Speaker 1>the plastic container that it's in over time as well,

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<v Speaker 1>So you're essentially drinking that plastic. And if you're going

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<v Speaker 1>to drink bottled water fresh off the shelf the assembly line,

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<v Speaker 1>and that bottled water that's just been sitting there for

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<v Speaker 1>about a year, it's gonna have an equal amount of

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<v Speaker 1>the same plastics leached into it. And it doesn't take

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of time for that happen. So, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>you could go without water if you're dying thirst and

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<v Speaker 1>you just want to avoid drinking whatever plastics are in there.

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<v Speaker 1>You know what, you can just suck up that water

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<v Speaker 1>and drink those plastics and live and then, I don't know,

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<v Speaker 1>maybe figure out how to get the plastics out of

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<v Speaker 1>you later on. But you might be asking, hey, Christian,

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<v Speaker 1>why would there be an expiration date on my bottle

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<v Speaker 1>of water. Well, it turns out, in seven, New Jersey

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<v Speaker 1>passed a law that said everything, all food stuffs, including water,

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<v Speaker 1>which is actually considered a food by Jersey, has to

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<v Speaker 1>have an expiration date of two years stamped right on there.

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<v Speaker 1>And everybody who's making bottled water all the time said, look,

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<v Speaker 1>we're not going to make a whole run of bottles

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<v Speaker 1>just for New Jersey that have to have this stamp.

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<v Speaker 1>We're just gonna stamp everything. It's more cost efficient and

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<v Speaker 1>that makes more sense, and hence bottled water has an

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<v Speaker 1>expiration date on it. Although New Jersey repealed that law

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<v Speaker 1>as far as bottled water goes in two thousand and six,

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<v Speaker 1>people still want it, though they expect it, and they're

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<v Speaker 1>gonna say, what's up with this water? It doesn't have

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<v Speaker 1>an expiration date on it. I'm not buying that. And that,

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<v Speaker 1>my friends, is why water has an expiration date. And no,

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<v Speaker 1>water doesn't really go bad as long as it stored

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<v Speaker 1>in a correct place and kept sealed. Check out the

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<v Speaker 1>brainstaff channel on YouTube, and for more on this and

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<v Speaker 1>thousands of other topics, visit how stuff works dot com