Fresh water life, how long?

Birdnst wrote:
Bottled water will not last forever, it has expiration dates on it.

Me thinks, because that is the expected shelf-life of the container. After a certain length of time the container itself begins to degrade. There-in is the reason for the expiration date. Water lasts forever, it's the non-water stuff in it that makes it distasteful or bad for human consumption.

Here to cite only 1 of many sources.


"Although water, in and of itself, does not go bad, the plastic bottle it is contained in does "expire," and will eventually start leaching chemicals into the water. This won't necessarily render the water toxic, but it might make it taste somewhat less than "mountain spring fresh." If consumers contact drink companies to complain that water they bought several years earlier tastes bad, the bottlers can point out that it's their own fault for not drinking it by the expiration date."

Which brings up another check-mark for draining the water from your fresh water tank rather than letting the water sit for a great length of time and absorb chemicals from the plastic tank, unless you drain it and refill it. No, if it sits in the tank for a month it's not going to hurt you, but the possibility of the plastic chemicals leaching from the tank into the water is a real possibility. Thus the need to occasionally sanitize.