Green water, in our H2O dispenser

Our family has one of those water dispensers with the five gallon jug that sits on top. You refill it at the grocery store. We go through A LOT of water! Anyway, yesterday, as I was changing the water, I peeked in the dispenser part and saw that the water had a greenish hue! My DH picks up the dispenser and runs his finger across the bottom of the inside to find a green film on his finger!!!!!!!!!!!! GROSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! I was in the middle of taking a sip of water from my glass when he did this!!! This is the water we drink every day. This is the water I make formula bottles with for Wil!! Someone please tell me that it's okay to have a bit of algae growing on the bottom of your water dispenser!! I knew it had been a long time since we cleaned it out, BUT NOT THAT LONG!! Here we are thinking we're doing good by buying clean water, not tap, BUT we're drinkin' algae! No one has been sick so far, thank god. But do you think it could harm us somehow?? Who knows how long we've been drinking it!!

I feel a little cold coming on and Wil has a snotty "green" nose today. WTH!!!

I doubt it will make you sick....However, maybe you can try cleaning it everytime you put a new jug on..Maybe that will cut back the algae. Are you sure its algae and not mold?

Yeah, maybe it's mold, but it was a bright green where mold is usually more black. GROSS! I'm a clean person...I swear!

Oh Gross.

I don't think it will make you sick though.... considering at my Inlaws, their water dispenser has BLACK MOLD all over the taps, I can just IMAGINE the inside. I tell them EVERYTIME I'm there.... they don't clean it. It's so GROSS.

needless to say, I drink tap water or no water when I'm there, same goes for the kids.

The plumber is in.

A little algae in your water won't hurt you. The question I have though is this: Where does your domestic water come from?

It is a scientific fact that bottled water is NOT healthier for most people than the water from the municipal water supply. Because of the constant motion of the water in the mains, algae and other micro-organisms are unable to thrive. In bottled water, which may sit for months before it is dispensed, there have been reports of widespread contamination. Municipal water supplies are normally required by law to be tested for safety once a month. Most water bottling companies are only tested by their local department of health once or twice a year.

As a plumber, I don't recommend bottled water unless your domestic water supply is compromised (you have a private well and its polluted) or you or a family member has a reaction to the purifiers that are used to keep the water supply safe (really, really rare).

Most people laugh at me like I don't know anything and go out and spend 10,000 times more than I do for my glass of water. Ahhhh.

WOW!! That's interesting news!! I live in Colorado Springs and have no idea where our water comes from. I do know that it is much better than where I grew up in California, much cleaner and better tasting. But my DH's parents own a natural foods store and he has always bought bottled water. So I just assumed I was doing the best. What you say makes perfect sense, but I don't like the taste of the tap. DH's parents actually buy the really expensive bottled kind like Fiji for drinking, the kind like we use in the big jug for cooking. They would probably shower in bottled water if they could...funny!

Thanks for the 411 Mr. Plumber Man! DH will love saving money!

I thought you were a firefighter?