WATER BOTTLES: HOW SAVING THE PLANET COULD MAKE YOU SICK Reusable water bottles reduce waste from single-use plastic, but without regular cleaning become havens for bacteria
by DR PRIMROSE FREESTONE Primrose is an associate professor in clinical microbiology based at the University of Leicester.
ANALYSIS
Take a walk around any local park, office or city centre and there’s a good chance you’ll see a number of people drinking from reusable water bottles.
They’ve become something of a fashion accessory, as well as a means to help us meet the NHS health recommendations of drinking 6-8 glasses of water per day and reduce our environmental footprint by cutting down on the need for single-use plastic bottles.
But, while using a water bottle might be a noble, health-improving and planet-protecting act, the bottles may be carrying a hidden risk. Research carried out by US water filtration company WaterFilterGuru has shown that if you don’t regularly wash your water bottle thoroughly, bacteria and moulds can build up – both on the inside and outside – that, if swallowed, have the potential to make you very ill.
Water, even from a kitchen tap, isn’t usually sterile, and bacteria begins growing naturally in all non-carbonated waters only a few days after a bottle is filled. The longer that water is stored in a bottle at room temperature, the more bacteria will grow. (Refrigerating filled water bottles can help limit microbial numbers, however.)
Some of a water bottle’s microbes will come from the water itself, but mostly they come from the person drinking from it. Our bodies are naturally covered with millions of microbes (microflora), including the insides of our mouths.
Microbes found inside a typical water bottle unsurprisingly include skin and oral microbes, such as Staphylococcus and Streptococcus. Although these bacteria are normally part of the human microflora, they can cause skin and respiratory infections.
The bottle will also contain microbes present in the environment around it, which could be of a huge variety. While they might land on the exterior of your bottle initially, they may later find their way onto the interior after being transferred by you. And each time you drink from the bottle you’ll be adding bacteria from your mouth, which is home to millions of microbial cells.
If you don’t wash your hands after goi
