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

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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🤷🏽‍♂️

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Anonymous 0 Comments

The water that goes into the pipes is very purified, so it contains little/no bacteria or stuff for them to eat.

In theory, there are no leaks along the way. When there is a leak, the contents of the pipe are under pressure, so water leaks out instead of other stuff getting in.

The water only flows one way, so even if the outlet is dirty, the bacteria can’t really make it far back up the pipe before getting flushed back out.

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