Are you sure that water's ok? or, The End is Nigh

Last weekend, when I wasn’t otherwise occupied with ChiDope and moving activities, I was visiting family members. For some reason, my family has a fear of drinking tapwater. I’m not sure why. However, it does mean that all of them buy water. So, while I’m at the grandparental units’ house, I’m partaking in a glass of deionized/dechlorinated/generally de-ickified water, when I happen to glance at the gallon jug…
And notice that there’s an expiration date. On water.
This, of course, concerns me. Not because I’m afraid of getting water that’s past the expriation date, but because I worry about the kind of people that think water expires. I don’t know about the general population, but I can’t remember ever opening a jug of water and saying “Ew-ew-ew, I think this water’s gone bad. Seriously…c’mere and smell this”

So, of course, because my mind is like it is, I’ve been pondering why there’s an expiration date on water, and the best I’ve been able to come up with is this: there are theoretical physicists working at the bottling plant and they’re warning me about when the protons in the water are going to decay.

So, according to the bottled-water people, Total Protonic Reversal occurs this Tuesday. Make your plans accordingly.

Mmmmmm… reversed protony goodness…

Take a look at this thread and this one. There’s several possible explanations given, as well as a link to a website on bottled water (looks like the same site in both, but different pages of it).

My favorite is “Filled from a municipal source.”