Water? What illness can you get?

Question

Hi all,
I watch my local team play football but recently have been asked to take home the kit and water bottles etc.
The water bottles were really disgusting the first time i got them ,they hadnt been cleaned in ages. I asked the person ho used to do it before and she said that they didnt tell her she needed to clean the bottles. It turns out all she was doing was topping the bottles up each week with water, not even emptying the old water.
I wanted to know, what serious illness could you contract from the stale water? Could you get Legionaire's disease?

I rinse them out after the match and later in the week, i leave them to soak in v.hot soapy water, cos they certanly get muddy around the edges.

Answer 1

Sheesh, there's no telling what's in those bottles!

The list of what you CAN'T get would be shorter!

Before you use those bottles, scrub them well and sterilize them with bleach! Especially in light of the staph infections that have been spreading in schools lately.

Good luck!

Answer 2

well, at the very least, the team is sharing all their colds etc. And if one becomes ill with a serious illness, everyone on the team will be exposed. Those bottles should be rinsed with bleach water and air dried before filling after every single game, or buy new bottles for each game.

Answer 3

It's not the stale water per se that will make people sick, it's the germs left in the water and on the rim of the bottle from each person who drank out of it.
Whole teams have been put out of commission with the flu this way.

Answer 4

The two most dangerous waterborne diseases are Giardiasis and Cryptosporidiosis. But these are removed at the treatment plant. However, the water being left out like that can lead to re-contamination. Most likely would be transmission of a viral infection and possibly a parasitic infection.

Answer 5

I am not sure but i have some pretty old half drank water bottles in the back of my Jeep, ya know drink if you are really thirsty and there is nothing else, and I have never gotten sick from them. Of course I at least smell them first.

Answer 6

It's better to only refill water bottles 2-3 times tops. Because of the material in water bottles it can make you sick. I don't know about the disease you mentioned but stay on the safe side and don't refill the bottle more than 3 times.

Answer 7

dont think u can get legionnaires as thats usually in air conditioning systems but if bottles are not washed then u could get ill from any bacteria in them, or left on them from the people who have drunk from them. if they are the bottles i m thinking of they are designed to be refilled so thats no problem in itself as with bottles u buy. dont think id want to drink out of them. no wonder my son takes bottled water with him!

Answer 8

some people believe that if you leave a water bottle in a hot car for a day, and then drink it the next day, there's a possibilty u might get cancer. i'm not sure if i believe it or not, but still.