# What's that taste in my gallon jug of water?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-taste-in-my-gallon-jug-of-water/178961>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 1, 2003, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-taste-in-my-gallon-jug-of-water/178961 "2003-06-01T17:26:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Fuel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df705f/32.png) [@Fuel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuel)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-taste-in-my-gallon-jug-of-water/178961/1 "2003-06-01T17:26:59Z")

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That plastic taste, is it harmful? I usually taste a little bit of it, but I bought some Zephyrhills the other day, and the taste is very strong. I drink a lot of water every day, am I gonna croak soon?

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**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-taste-in-my-gallon-jug-of-water/178961/2 "2003-06-01T17:48:47Z")

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Do you have a frog in your throat? 😃  
Seriously, where do you obtain your water? From the tap? Bottled water? What do you use to drink with it? A glass? How is that glass washed?

Zephyrhills? As in bottled water? Have you read previous bottled water threads indicating most(?) bottled water is not a clean and healthy as tap water?

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**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-taste-in-my-gallon-jug-of-water/178961/3 "2003-06-01T19:32:15Z")

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I recently noticed that bottled water in gallon jugs (the store bought spring water or distilled stuff) has an odd wet-sock smell when the bottle is mostly empty and you smell the opening.

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**Author:** ![Fuel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df705f/32.png) [@Fuel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuel)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-taste-in-my-gallon-jug-of-water/178961/4 "2003-06-01T20:16:38Z")

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Gallon plastic jugs of distilled water at Publix… does the plastic “wash” off into the water? Am I drinking a solution of water+plastic? It’s pretty obvious, the smell, the taste, in a plastic jug, isn’t it? Well, what is it? It’s in drinking & spring water too.

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**Author:** ![Fuel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df705f/32.png) [@Fuel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuel)\
**Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-taste-in-my-gallon-jug-of-water/178961/5 "2003-06-02T17:47:30Z")

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I did a search here and didn’t see this specific question answered. All I saw was a long thread about whether you should re-use plastic bottles because of bacteria. **No one has bothered to ask what that totally obvious and obnoxious taste is in the cheap gallon bottles!**