– why doesn’t the water in our pipes get bacteria/viruses in it?

489 views

It seems like you would get pretty nasty germs happily living in our plumbing (especially untreated well water).

I think about the water that can sit for prolonged periods in hot water tanks, stagnant water in dead end sections of the plumbing system (unused outside faucet etc), and the wet oxygen rich environment inside the faucet ends.

Yet you almost never hear about people getting sick from their water🤷🏽‍♂️

In: 1670

20 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

One of the keys is that the water is constantly moving about and our water is sanitized prior to going into the domestic water piping.

In places where water sits, as you mentioned, you *don’t* want drink that water. For example you don’t drink or cook with water from the hot water tap, you use only cold water. Build codes are in place that avoid dead-end piping runs to avoid build up like you’re suggesting. Finally, we have designed our plumbing systems to avoid water being ‘sucked back in’ if it’s dirty, for example, water in a toilet bowl cannot be sucked back up into the domestic water piping if there a problem with water pressure. All of our plumbing devices are designed this way ideally.

finally, to prove your point, the one place where water does sit and sit and sit and sit are fire sprinkler pipes and unlike what you see in action movies when those heads go off the water is anything by clear and pure. It’s dank and stinky and nasty.

You are viewing 1 out of 20 answers, click here to view all answers.