Slime in my drinking water!! FROM WHAT???

[CosmickGold]

Five-gallon jug #1 went empty this morning, so I pulled the pump out of the jug on it's water hose to place it in still-full five-gallon jug #2. Pulling the hose out with my right hand, I let it slide through the fingers of my left hand. That's when I felt this thick, slippery slime all the way down the hose to the pump! The slime covered both the water hose to the pump and the 12v wire to the pump. (I didn't think to feel if the pump was slimy too. It probably was.)

Where on earth did the slime come from? What is it even? How do I get rid of it, permanently? It has no odor that my nose can detect, and it looked invisibly clear until I wiped it off the hose with a paper towel (which showed it to be light brown on the paper towel).

I'm afraid to take a swallow of my own drinking water when I have no idea what I would be ingesting from this water.

The only possible sources I know are:


1. I filled these jugs with fresh water from the bathtub faucet in a friend's apartment in Arlington, Texas. That water should be as pure as the city can afford to make it.


2. This is the hose I'm talking about. (Not the pump, because it went bad.)


3. The orange pump leaked water into its circuit board and died, so I replaced it with this blue pump, which has the electric wire that was slimy. I didn't think to check the blue pump itself for slime.

That covers all the sources I know of the slime could have come from. The wire and hose were in jug #1 for a couple of months, so I doubt this happened overnight.

If anyone knows the source of the slime, and/or has a cure, please fill me in on the secret!
Most of all, I don't want to get poisoned!

 

[Malamute]

Water is alive to some extent. Any bacteria from your hands or whatever that touches the parts could lead to it, or it may be a naturally occurring thing thats airborne or whatever. I know pink algae will grow on snow ans it grew in my canoe when it got rainwater in it.

I bleached my jugs out now and then. Definitely bleach your bottles you drink from, they will grow gunk from touching your lips.

I got 2 liter pop bottles from people at church when i was nomadding, id use them a couple weeks and then use new ones. I was also hard on them, I liked that when they started freezing, you could smash them against the truck bumper and get enough water out of it to brush your teeth. Id somtimes keep one in my sleeping bag so it wouldnt freeze, and I didnt want one leaking, part of the reason i swapped them out now and then.

if it hasnt made you sick yet its probably not going to unless it gets more concentrated, but a bleaching every week or two should stop it.

 

[rruff]

If the water isn't thoroughly purified, things will grow in a water tank if it sits. I use tap water for washing, but only drink RO water that I put in clear hard plastic jugs.

My tap water jugs get green stuff inside...

You may have also had some stuff leak out of your pumps.

 

[Ripper238]

I always bleach my jugs now and then to prevent this. Cant just keep filling the same jug over and over and never clean it. Some water is "clean" because of chemicals, some water is "safe to drink" but has things in it that over time can make mold and slime.

 

[WanderingRose]

Yep, sanitize them and start over.

 

[CosmickGold]

If the water isn't thoroughly purified, things will grow in a water tank if it sits. I use tap water for washing, but only drink RO water that I put in clear hard plastic jugs.

My tap water jugs get green stuff inside...

You may have also had some stuff leak out of your pumps.

I googled OR Water and found it means Reverse Osmosis Water. I can't guess the details of how you mean you get it since it takes many cups of water passing through the system to make just one cup of RO Water. So do you have a process for making RO Water that would be practical for me to use?

I think the green inside your tap-water jugs may come from metal corrosion of your washers, pipes, or fittings. My slime is clear (or light brown when concentrated by a paper towel wiping across it).

But still, I think you have an important answer I will follow, which is to drink water from elsewhere, not water from those jugs and pump. They can be reserved just for laundry and similar washing. You've clued me in that I need to get pure water just for drinking, from elsewhere. Thank you for pointing that out.

Like you mentioned, I thought there could be lubricant or such leaking from the pump. You thought of it too.

 

[Frood]

All it takes is 1 bacterium to contaminate your water... 1 -> 2 -> 4 -> 8... Until you have a whole colony. The jugs were likely contaminated before you filled them... Should clean and sanitize refillable jugs every time before using them. Same goes for the pumps, etc. You may need to run sanitizing solution through your pump to clear it out as well (see what kinds wont damage the device before doing so) otherwise you will just be reintroducing bacteria to your water when you put the pump back in.

PS: Vinegar is not a sanitizing agent. It kills SOME bacteria but vinegar itself, especially "organic" vinegar, is a product of bacterial fermentation.

 

[GntlStone]

I googled OR Water and found it means Reverse Osmosis Water. I can't guess the details of how you mean you get it since it takes many cups of water passing through the system to make just one cup of RO Water. So do you have a process for making RO Water that would be practical for me to use?

I think the green inside your tap-water jugs may come from metal corrosion of your washers, pipes, or fittings. My slime is clear (or light brown when concentrated by a paper towel wiping across it).

But still, I think you have an important answer I will follow, which is to drink water from elsewhere, not water from those jugs and pump. They can be reserved just for laundry and similar washing. You've clued me in that I need to get pure water just for drinking, from elsewhere. Thank you for pointing that out.

This is where the Berkey filter system comes in handy. You put the tank water in and get safe, drinkable water out.

You could also look into the LifeStraw (?) or similar system, which claims to purify stream water and is used by hikers.

 

[DannyB1954]

Green Algae can grow in water. Sunlight can accelerate this, (glass container). My house has a well. The water tastes great but if left sitting in a dirty dish soon smells a bit like sewer water. Organisms float in the air until they find a place to grow, (as in your water). Municipalities add a bit of chlorine or chloramine to their water. You can do the same. Google, bleach drinking water. We are talking drops per gallon. Places that fill RV tanks often use wells so the water is not treated.
Chlorine eventually evaporates from the water, but chloramine does not. Those with pet fish tanks need to treat Chloramine water before using it or it will kill their fish. Fun facts ehhh?

 

[rruff]

I googled OR Water and found it means Reverse Osmosis Water. I can't guess the details of how you mean you get it since it takes many cups of water passing through the system to make just one cup of RO Water. So do you have a process for making RO Water that would be practical for me to use?

There are dispensers for RO water all over... gas stations, grocery stores. Put in some coins, 1-5 gal come out. I put a RO system in a house, but it would waste to much water in an RV. You can use other purifiers though.

My wash water jugs are plastic, so it isn't corrosion.

 

[tx2sturgis]

Do yourself a favor: Buy bottled drinking water and use that for consumption (tea, coffee, etc) and cooking. Long term water storage, residual organic material, and warm (or hot) ambient temps don't mix.

Disinfect those tanks and then use them for washing dishes or water for bathing, but not for storing your drinking water.

 

[CosmickGold]

Green Algae can grow in water. Sunlight can accelerate this, (glass container). My house has a well. The water tastes great but if left sitting in a dirty dish soon smells a bit like sewer water. Organisms float in the air until they find a place to grow, (as in your water). Municipalities add a bit of chlorine or chloramine to their water. You can do the same. Google, bleach drinking water. We are talking drops per gallon. Places that fill RV tanks often use wells so the water is not treated.
Chlorine eventually evaporates from the water, but chloramine does not. Those with pet fish tanks need to treat Chloramine water before using it or it will kill their fish. Fun facts ehhh?

Very useful facts, thank you. I was thinking I need to google about bleach and how to correctly use it to treat my water. Now I don't have to because you've explained it (except I still need to find how many drops per gallon. (Guess I need to purchase an eye-dropper to manage that.)


Also I purchase this filter today, to remove all kinds of chemicals before they go into my tanks. it says it's good for 40,000 gallons. But doesn't remove germs.


And I have this one also I'll start using, which doesn't remove chemicals, but does remove all germs, even the tiniest virus.

With both of them in play, one for chemicals and one for germs, I think I should be safe.

 

[CosmickGold]

. . . . Disinfect those tanks and then use them for washing dishes or water for bathing, but not for storing your drinking water.

I think you are right. No more drinking from those five-gallon jugs, unless the water gets more treatment first!

 

[Malamute]

I had no problems drinking the water from jugs, so long as they get bleached every now and then. I dont bleach the water Im storing, just cleaning the jugs, rinsing, then getting fresh water. I dump a splash of bleach in a couple quarts of water, cap it, slosh and shake it all around, loosen the caps and let the bleach water flow through a bit or pour a little in the cap and pour over the threads of the jug so all surfaces get bleached, and dump it into the next jug to be sterilized, until done. I had about 7 jugs at one point. I think I did them about every 2-3 weeks. Dont get the bleach water on your hands or clothes. Wash it off your hands well before touching clothes, if it gets on your clothes, flush with plenty of fresh water instantly and you may escape damage. Wait a few minutes and youll have messed up clothes.

I didnt drink the water from the motor homes tank, but bleached it now and then to preclude gunk growing.

I bleach my well at my cabin every couple years or so, just sort of precautionary, ive not had any problems, and its just straight out of the ground.

 

[WanderingRose]

And just FYI, you can buy bleach tablets at walMart, a bottle of which take up the space and weight of a cup of coffee.

1 tablet equals one cup of bleach, break them apart for smaller quantities.

 

[CosmickGold]

I had no problems drinking the water from jugs, so long as they get bleached every now and then. I dont bleach the water Im storing, just cleaning the jugs, rinsing, then getting fresh water. I dump a splash of bleach in a couple quarts of water, cap it, slosh and shake it all around, loosen the caps and let the bleach water flow through a bit or pour a little in the cap and pour over the threads of the jug so all surfaces get bleached, and dump it into the next jug to be sterilized, until done. I had about 7 jugs at one point. I think I did them about every 2-3 weeks. Dont get the bleach water on your hands or clothes. Wash it off your hands well before touching clothes, if it gets on your clothes, flush with plenty of fresh water instantly and you may escape damage. Wait a few minutes and youll have messed up clothes. . . .

Good plan. That's exactly what I'll do today, except I'm using Citric Acid instead of Chlorine Bleach. Citric Acid is on the EPA's list of safer disinfectants. It also is said to be helpful in ways Chlorine Bleach is harmful.

(But don't have chlorine bleach anywhere around when using Citric Acid, for the acid can turn Chlorine Bleach into a deadly monster, a gas that quickly results in serious lung injury or even death!) No bleach is going to be in my van; u'uh, nada, no way.

 

[Malamute]

Im not familiar with citric acid as a disinfectant, Ive only used it (Lemi-shine)to clean brass in wet cleaning (common brass dry tumblers can have have lead dust issues). Its good to know its potentially problematic if combined with bleach, I had no idea.

I keep bleach around for disinfecting everything, in the west, mice can have Hanta Virus, so anything they touch is potentially infected with dried urine or feces, the dust of which is I believe the primary carrier to humans/ I mix it in spray bottles and damp down anything mice have been on, or use bleach water on sponges on surfaces the spray isnt easy to contain around.

 

[sarahj]

To answer the "what is it" portion of the question: it's biofilm. Look it up and you'll quickly figure out it's a matter of housekeeping and making sure your refill water is clean, which is admittedly partly a matter of trust (or lack thereof) most of the time.

 

[JDelete]

When I first started my "build and prep," I bought a couple of those Scepter 5 gallon water jugs. These are supposedly among the best. Well, I filled them up with clean water, water that was city water that had also gone through a 3 stage filter system which then feeds into another 2 stage filter system for my house drinking water. But, after about a month of that "super filtered" water in the jugs, it had a very noticeable odor. No way was I going to drink it.

My solution since is to buy Primo water at Walmart. It comes in the 5 gallon jugs. The initial price is about 15 bucks for a 5 gallon jug but after that, when you have an empty jug to exchange, it is about 6 dollars. Walmart also sells a pump that goes on the jug. Quite handy actually. This water is all I use for drinking and cooking. A five gallon jug lasts me a week. I use tap water, etc, for bathing and those needs.

For extreme emergencies, I have one of these:
https://www.amazon.com/Katadyn-5010...qid=1641071585&sprefix=katadyn,aps,117&sr=8-3
But I haven't had to use it yet.

 

[Malamute]

When I first started my "build and prep," I bought a couple of those Scepter 5 gallon water jugs. These are supposedly among the best. Well, I filled them up with clean water, water that was city water that had also gone through a 3 stage filter system which then feeds into another 2 stage filter system for my house drinking water. But, after about a month of that "super filtered" water in the jugs, it had a very noticeable odor. No way was I going to drink it....

Hauling water is pretty much a way of life in much of Northern Arizona, even for modern homes in some areas. A number of people I knew hauled for their homes. I hauled when nomading and when cabin living for several years, besides time in the motor home. I drink the water, it just needs to have the jugs bleached every couple weeks and it stays pretty good. I think people that had cisterns for their houses put some bleach in the water to keep it sweet. City water is often treated with small amounts of chlorine (bleach) to help make it safe. In very small amounts its relatively harmless and evaporates out in a while.

Flagstaff had water dispenser stations, one that a friend used for his water trailer had an overhead boom and was coin operated, I forget the amount of water it dispensed, I think it may have been 100 gallons at a time.

Some wells in the rockies in my current normal environs get a sulfurous smell, its from a bacteria in the wells. I had it checked by a guy that sold treatment systems, he said he could sell me an expensive system to add minute amounts of bleach to it, I could eliminate all the copper fittings in my system (partially helpful he said), or I could just shock bleach my well every couple months or so at that particular cabin and do the same thing, so i did. I dumped a couple gallons of bleach in the well casing, ran one faucet til i smelled bleach, ran every one in the house including the outside hydrant, let it sit an hour or two, them flush it all out till theres no bleach smell. its fine for at least a couple months. i drank it all the time as did others with no ill effects. That was a place I lived many years ago. the current place has excellent water without doing anything.