# Twenty year old water **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 15, 2009, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-year-old-water/496587 "2009-05-15T23:12:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-year-old-water/496587/1 "2009-05-15T23:12:53Z")
As part of a landscape job we were doing, we cleaned out this guys garage that hadn’t been entered for about 20 years. We found some “earthquake water” (I’m in southern California). This is water that we are asked to store in case an earthquake occurs and the taps go dry. Anyway, this water is in large sealed plastic bottles and is about 20 tears old. Is it still H2O? Has it lost something since the day it was bottled? Safe to drink? Safe to water plants with? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![redshift](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bbce88/32.png) [@redshift](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redshift)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-year-old-water/496587/2 "2009-05-15T23:17:37Z")
I would think that if properly sealed it would never stale… stagnation is due to other things growing in the water. To be safe just use to to water your lawn and release it back to the environment… if you wake up to find an empty front yard well you know what happened. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-year-old-water/496587/3 "2009-05-15T23:18:06Z")
In order: Yes. I don’t know. Not sure, but since algae might have grown in it, probably not. Yes. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-year-old-water/496587/4 "2009-05-15T23:22:51Z")
It’s probably bacteriologically safe to drink, but it almost certainly tastes terrible. After just a year or two, IME, water picks up a nasty flavor from being in plastic. After 20 years, I’d only be comfortable using it to wash down the driveway. The jury is still out on whether or not chemicals in plastic are really safe for humans - things like phthalates, BIS-A and so on… After 20 years in plastic bottles, that water will have a lot of this stuff in it. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-year-old-water/496587/5 "2009-05-16T00:10:20Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > Anyway, this water is in large sealed plastic bottles and is about 20 tears old. It might be a bit salty. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-year-old-water/496587/6 "2009-05-16T00:33:26Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > As part of a landscape job we were doing, we cleaned out this guys garage that hadn’t been entered for about 20 years. > > We found some “earthquake water” (I’m in southern California). This is water that we are asked to store in case an earthquake occurs and the taps go dry. > > Anyway, this water is in large sealed plastic bottles and is about 20 tears old. > > Is it still H2O? Has it lost something since the day it was bottled? Safe to drink? Safe to water plants with? > > Thanks! I’d use it on the flowers. Has it lost anything? No. Safe to drink? Possibly, but I wouldn’t even use it in my vegetable garden. ---
**Author:** ![ivn1188](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e480ec/32.png) [@ivn1188](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivn1188)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-year-old-water/496587/7 "2009-05-16T01:07:38Z")
I’ll wager that it’s perfectly safe and tastes a little like plastic. Any cracks/leaks in the bottle and it would have dried out or lost a significant volume of water. There’s a lot of FUD out there about “chemicals” and such, but you could eat the bottles and the worst risk you would face is a perforation. ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-year-old-water/496587/8 "2009-05-16T01:14:33Z")
What else did this 20 yo garage have? ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-year-old-water/496587/9 "2009-05-16T01:48:34Z")
Find a nasty little neighbor kid or a mean old lady and give them a drink 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-year-old-water/496587/10 "2009-05-16T01:56:51Z")
> [@Alex\_Dubinsky](#): > > What else did this 20 yo garage have? Unopened newspapers from the late eighties and early nineties. Very interesting reading. A complete still in sealed boxes 1993 encyclopedia Britannica. I guess some encyclopedia salesman came to his door and made a sale. With the Internet, I doubt they even publish them anymore. Love letters from his long ago divorced wife. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-year-old-water/496587/11 "2009-05-16T02:30:23Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > A complete still in sealed boxes 1993 encyclopedia Britannica. I guess some encyclopedia salesman came to his door and made a sale. With the Internet, I doubt they even publish them anymore. They still sell them, and they’re still over a thousand bucks. That seems to suggest that people still buy them. I have no idea who. ---
**Author:** ![Casserole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b77776/32.png) [@Casserole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casserole)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-year-old-water/496587/12 "2009-05-16T04:16:33Z")
Hi, Vince Offer here for the Encyclopaedia Britannica. This is fa duh library, fa duh den, fa on toppa the mantle… ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-year-old-water/496587/13 "2009-05-16T04:28:20Z")
Flush toilets with it, water the lawn, that’s about all I would do with it. Oh, Wash your car? ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-year-old-water/496587/14 "2009-05-16T04:41:42Z")
> [@Lanzy](#): > > Flush toilets with it, water the lawn, that’s about all I would do with it. Oh, Wash your car? The encyclopedia? ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-year-old-water/496587/15 "2009-05-16T04:51:08Z")
I think when I have a thousand bucks to spare and a big enough house, I’ll buy a set of encyclopedias. When I was growing up, I would peruse two sets at my grandmothers house, one from 1947 and the other from 1967. To me, it was fascinating reading then-current biographies, country profiles and science articles. I felt like I was entering the world of that time, in some sense, as I perused a snapshot of the overall state of knowledge for that particular period. ============ Oh–old water, you say? I imagine if you go into the basements of many older stone or brick buildings, you’ll find 50+ year old water (and maybe food, too). Fallout shelters, dontchyaknow. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-year-old-water/496587/16 "2009-05-16T07:14:35Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > They still sell them, and they’re still over a thousand bucks. That seems to suggest that people still buy them. I have no idea who. I had a garage sale and some families would buy nice lookng hard-cover books just for show. I found this hard to beleive, but had it verified but numerous sources. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-year-old-water/496587/17 "2009-05-16T07:44:38Z")
Plenty of Pretetende Olde Worlde Places (Bed & Breakfasts, Englishe Pub[del]e[/del]s etc.) buy old fashioned leather bound books by the foot, just to try and look authentice. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-year-old-water/496587/18 "2009-05-16T12:21:02Z")
Probably not leather-bound, but I’ve noticed old books on display in furniture stores and clothing stores. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-year-old-water/496587/19 "2009-05-16T14:27:29Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > They still sell them, and they’re still over a thousand bucks. That seems to suggest that people still buy them. I have no idea who. Respectable Newspapers and Lawyers sometimes have them for reference purposes- if a Reputable Printed Reference is needed for something, it’s hard to go past the Encyclopaedia Brittanica. That and it _looks_ Respectable & Professional to have a collection handy- same with things like a Big Leather-Bound Dictionary. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-year-old-water/496587/20 "2009-05-16T15:10:37Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > I had a garage sale and some families would buy nice lookng hard-cover books just for show. I found this hard to beleive, but had it verified but numerous sources. Concurred. And I’m probably one of them : I find a library shelf neatly filled with thick leatherbound tomes aesthetically pleasing, and in a way I couldn’t begin to explain, reassuring. It’s not about appearing to be an 'telekchual, it just looks nice. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-year-old-water/496587.md?page=2)