Uh Oh! Your Water Bottle May Be Toxic

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Uh Oh. Your Water Bottle May Be Toxic By Cathryn Conroy, Wal-Mart Connect News EditorIf you're trying to save a buck or two by reusing the plastic bottle your water or soda comes in, you may be risking your health. The Canadian Press reports that dangerous bacteria and potentially toxic plastic compounds have been found in reused plastic water bottles that were intended for a single use only. This is how bad it is: If the same bacteria were found in a city's water supply, it would be shut down. How much water do we REALLY need? The answer may surprise you. Researchers from the University of Calgary in Calgary, Alberta conducted a study of water bottles in the lunches of students who attended a Calgary elementary school. Had the bacteria in those bottles been found in the tap water, health officials would have had to issue a "boil water" advisory. Specifically, the researchers found bacterial contamination in about a third of the samples collected from the kids' water bottles at the school, and some samples even showed evidence of fecal coliforms. "If a town water supply had fecal coliforms in it, it would have to be shut down," lead author Cathy Ryan told The Canadian Press. Don't rely on your thirst to tell you when you need water! Tips to tell when you need to drink. Where did the bacteria come from? Most likely, it originated from kids' hands and mouths as they reused the bottles without properly washing them or allowing them to dry, Ryan explained. She said some of the bottles hadn't been washed for months. The study was small--just 76 bottles at an elementary school were analyzed--but Ryan is convinced the results would be the same anywhere else. Here's the gotcha: Wash those bottles too much and toxic chemical compounds, some of which are carcinogenic, can migrate out of the bottles and into the liquid you put inside of them. It's probably best to use the bottles as they were intended: once. The study results were published in the Canadian Journal of Public Health. Find out why you may want to consider buying a water filter, and get tips on how to comparison shop for the best one for you.