Green Water in a Water Bottle?
Published June 29, 2011 | 
Lori asks:
My girlfriend was taking a drink from her new cold Deja Blue plastic water bottle, when she got almost to the bottom she tasted a funky taste and looked at the bottle. It had turned green with black sentiments in it. I tasted it and it had a earthy green taste. What could have caused this so quickly? Does anyone have any suggestions?
Hi Lori
It sounds to me like there was some microbial growth in this bottle. Either it grew before with a bit of water and she just added some, or she let the water sit out in the open a long time (a few days) and it grew.
Algae and other bacteria are floating around in the air looking for a good place to reproduce, open sources of liquid are great places!
This is why once you open a bottle of water it’s important to consume it within a relatively short time frame. In most water sources there are dissolved organics which are harmless to us but provide nutrition for bacteria and algae. There are always algae and bacteria in the air and as soon as you open that water bottle some will find their way in. If you do keep open water and want to drink it later, one way is to ensure it’s cold. That will slow down bacterial growth and allow the water to stay fresh longer (this is how it works for food as well).
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Posted in Drinking Water, health, microorganisms, question | 
algae, bottled wateropen water, green water, growth, stale water, water bottleCan you filter water through a cigarette filter?
Published June 27, 2011 | Ruine asks:
i saw a man vs. wild episode where he used a piece of charcoal to filter water though a bamboo straw… I feel like if i had no fresh water I would at least try to use a cigarette filter shoved in a straw before drinking straight pond water. would this work?
Hi Ruine
When stranded without a safe water supply, there are two steps you must take to make the surface water you find as safe as possible:
- Remove as much particulate matter as possible
- Disinfect the water as much as possible
To achieve #1, you may use a unused cigarette filter. However, you may have a difficult time filtering a significant quantity of water through the filter or even getting the water to go through the filter. Your best bet is to filter the water through your shirt by covering a recieiving container with your shirt and pouring water through it.
To disinfect the water, ensure it is in a metal container and bring it to a boil over a fire for at least 1 minute. Let it cool, then drink it.
When in a survival situation, it’s important to ensure you disinfect the water by boiling it. The last thing you want is a bacteria or parasite far away from a hospital. Especially since many water borne diseases cause diarrhea, which will dehydrate you even further.
I hope that helps, and I hope you never actually need to do this!
If you are going camping and would like to prepare properly, I use a portable water filter and disinfection tablets by Katadyn when I go into the woods. Both are very effective and you can follow the links I put there to check them out.
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Posted in Drinking Water, health, microorganisms, question | algae, bottled wateropen water, green water, growth, stale water, water bottle
