• We usually store drinking water in the reusable water bottles and use/ give it to young children for drinking purpose.

  • Reusable bottles are considered to be environmentally friendly and economical because you can repeatedly refill them.

  • Since these are refilled and reuse water bottles, it is essential to clean the bottles on a regular basis.

  • Some bottles have wide mouths that make it easy to clean the inside, while others have a small opening, making it challenging to clean the interior.

  • When these bottles are used, there is direct contact between the bottle and hand/mouth.

  • This could result in the growth of bacteria, which may pose health risks.

  • Improperly cleaned water bottles may be contaminated.

  • Thus, using such bottles can cause foodborne illness, particularly in young children.

  • Microorganisms normally grow in water and on surfaces in contact with water as biofilms.

  • Biofilms are multiple, different types of bacteria living together and covered in protective sticky goo.

  • Therefore, reusable bottles must be properly cleaned and sanitised in order to reduce the number of harmful microorganisms to safe levels.

Reference

  1. Sun X, Kim J, Behnke C, Almanza B, Greene C, Miller J, et al. The Cleanliness of Reusable Water Bottles: How Contamination Levels are Affected by Bottle Usage and Cleaning Behaviors of Bottle Owners. Food Protection Trends. 2017 Nov-Dec;37(6):392-402.
  2. Liu H, Liu Q. Rapid Microbial Growth in Reusable Drinking Water Bottles. Ann Civil Environ Eng. 2017;1:55-62.
  3. Okshevsky M, Louise Meyer R. Big Bad Biofilms: How Communities of Bacteria Cause Long-Term Infections. Front. Young Minds. 2016;4:14.