Rancid Bottled Water?

Question

I recently opened up a gallon of water. It was sealed and was not past its expiration date.

The water tasted horrible. I only took a sip of it. but it left a horrible taste in my mouth.

My dad took a sip of it too.

My mom is called PureLife water now,

but we want to know how this could have happened and if we will get sick of food poisoning from it.

Answer 1

It probably won't hurt you but it depends a great deal on what it is contaminated with, and how much you drank.

When I was a kid, my dad was a contract cowboy.  That means that other people paid him to look after cattle they owned on land they owned or leased, and he earned a wage from that.  We would often drive the pickup to remote areas with an old-fashioned wind-driven water pump.  If there had been a period with no wind, the leather on the pump would dry out, then when the wind started again, it wouldn't make a good seal, and the pump wouldn't make a suction to draw the water to the surface.  In order to make it work, we had to "prime the pump," which meant pour water onto the leather to get it supple again so it would make a proper seal.

To make sure water was available to prime the pump, we often had to either carry some with us or someone had to have the foresight to leave water in a can or jar by the pump for "dry times."

Sometimes the water would be there for weeks or even months before there was a dry time in which it was needed.  If we were thirsty, we were allowed to drink a little of the water from the primer jar. It was stagnant, not rancid.  Rancid is when oils in a food spoil.  There is no oil in normal water.  However, bacteria or other contaminants can multiply and make the water have a very bad taste.  This would be more common in the unsterilized water containers we used out in the pasture than a sterilized water bottle.  None of us ever got noticeably sick from drinking the stagnant water, but we also didn't drink much of it.  

  If you have other water, I'd drink it instead, and you may want to have the water in the bottle tested at a lab so you can tell the bottler what the contaminants were.  If you put your lips directly to the bottle, then you have contaminated it, also, so the test may be of limited use.

PureLife water will probably just send you a coupon to replace it.

I drink very little bottled water because I have access to clean water from the tap or a local filtered source.  You might consider getting a portable filter that fits on the top of the bottles if you have limited drinking water available.  There are sources for such filters and filter bottles below.

www.campingfilters.com (a Culligan site)

www.copeusa.org/bottle.htm

chppm-www.apgea.army.mil/WPD/.../180/A...

www.sierratradingpost.com/xt_kc.aspx?k...

A search engine with key words "individual water bottle filters" will get you hundreds more.

Answer 2

I don't understand.  Your mom is called PureLife water now???   As for the water, I believe I have had this happen to me too.  It is as though the water has picked up the taste of the plastic or something but according to snopes drinking bottled water that has been left in a hot car (which was what happened in my case) will not hurt you.  Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Unless your water has OIL in it, it's can't go 'Rancid'.

It may taste of plastic, or it may have a mineral content above that which you are use to, but it wasn't rancid.

Rancid is the taste you get from folger if bought by the buy date.