I’ve had a jug of water bought from the store that I was keeping out of direct sunlight and heat (except the water heater, but the closet doesn’t seem warmer than the other rooms) for multiple years; the expiration date is way way out. I’m getting mixed messages from the internet on whether I should consider it safe to drink right now; most of the sources don’t seem that authoritative, and many talk about bottled water or jugs you fill yourself, neither of which apply here.
So should I or should I not take thus water on a camping trip and drink it?
I store gallon jugs of (purchased spring) water the same as you: out of direct sunlight and at reasonable temperatures. I label each jug with the month and year stored and then rotate each jug out after 1 year. That way I have 12 gallons of potable water for emergencies. I use the one-year-old water for coffee, drinking and cooking. For your situation, I’d discard the water if you have any doubts about it (such as a musty smell).
This thread from a few years ago may be of interest. There is no doubt that after some number of years, the plastic bottles of spring water had deteriorated to the point that they were extremely flimsy. There was some debate about the extent, if any, to which plastic had leached into the water, or conversely, whether water had leached into the plastic molecular structure. In that situation, I poured out the water and threw the bottles into recycling.
If the expiration date is in the future that means the manufacturer is confident enough they won’t hurt anyone and get sued out to that date and to some unknowable later date beyond even then.
If you (generic you) are upset about microplastics, no water that’s ever been in a plastic bottle is safe enough for generic you.
The truth is somewhere in the middle.
IMO the truth is closest to where the manufacturer put it. Not because manufacturers are wonderful trustworthy folks, but because they’re putting their wallet where their mouth is. Which is generally a reliable sign of sincerity.
As a practical matter for your camping trip, I might not choose to take that one jug as my only potable water. What if you open it up and find it tastes nasty? Not necessarily unhealthy, but certainly unpleasant. Now you’re stuck. If instead you bring several jugs, then it’s only e.g. 20% of your water supply, and you can probably still enjoy your trip and leave it for last or emergency use.
As a general matter, it does no good to stock up for emergencies and then not rotate your stock at a pace that leaves you comfortable with the age of what you’d be consuming. Everything in your emergency supplies should be fresh enough that you’re sure (to your personal standards) that it’s fresh enough to still be good. That includes batteries, lights, food, drink, tools, containers, etc. Every bit of that stuff deteriorates just through the ravages of time. And it’s all subject to vermin, water intrusion, overheating, whatever, that can radically shorten its lifespan.
An emergency larder or backup bag is not a buy and forget item. It’s a buy and curate roughly monthly item.
The water should be okay for at least as long as the “use by” date, but is probably okay for longer. Manufacturers list the length of time they’ve tested, and they don’t have a lot of incentive for testing longer times.
That being said, plastic bottles leach stuff into the water, and make it taste nasty. And the plastic breaks down over time, and gets more brittle, so there’s a greater chance the bottle will break and leak on everything instead of being a source of drinking water. You can usually tell if the latter is a risk by feeling the bottles.
The amount of plasticizer or whatever that’s leached into the water is unlikely to be toxic if you just use it for this one hiking trip. Even if bacteria got into it somehow, there’s not enough carbon in bottled water for a lot of bacteria to grow. I, personally, would not worry about the water making me sick. But also, I, personally, eventually dumped the bottled water i stocked up on before 2000, because i was pretty sure it wouldn’t be nice to drink.
Would i take your bottled water? If the plastic still felt springy and the bottles were still full, and i was feeling lazy and didn’t want to obtain water any other way, i would. But i also might regret it on the trip, because i don’t like the flavor of plastic.
Or, you know, buy just-in-case for something in the near future, and then not have any reason to use until it goes bad.
Back when I had a larger residence with storage space one of my favorite ways to save money was to buy multiple [whatevers] when they went on sale, then use one and store the rest for 2 years, then throw them away unused. So much money saving!
I ate almost everything in my pandemic stockpile. (I bought a lot of rice, beans, and canned fruit early in the pandemic.) I feel pretty good about that.
Most of my y2k water supply was a giant bottle from a friend who has a spring water contract with someone, and had a ton of bottles in his garage. He offered to lend me one for two weeks, just in case. I returned that the next time i visited after the turn of calendar. But i don’t feel bad about the extra gallon or two of drinking water i eventually tossed. It did its job.
