It's Your Health: 2 Reasons Why You Should Store Bottled Water in Climate-Controlled Self-Storage Units
If a crisis should ever occur, water is perhaps one of the most important necessities to have an abundance of. After all, you can survive only 3 days without water. If you don't have enough room at home for self storage use, renting a self-storage unit for the purpose of storing essentials in a time of crisis may be a good idea.
If you plan on storing bottled water, the self-storage units must have climate-controlled features because water should be stored at temperatures between 33 and 145 degrees Fahrenheit for best results. Keeping the bottled water in proper storage temperatures is quite important:
Chemicals in Bottled Water Leak Out
The plastic of bottled water contains traces of heavy metals and other chemicals that are damaging to the human body. In particular, antimony, a trace heavy metal, has been linked to lung, heart and gastrointestinal diseases. A study conducted by Nanjing University in China and University of Florida looked at whether these heavy metals and chemicals would leak out from the plastic bottles when stored at temperatures of 39, 77 and 158 degrees Fahrenheit.
Surprisingly, the heavy metals and chemicals did leak from the plastic and into the water as the storage temperature increased. Specifically, the release of antimony increased twofold when stored at temperatures of 77 degrees Fahrenheit and 319-fold at 158 degrees Fahrenheit. The concentration of other chemicals also increased proportionally as well.
Overexposure to Sunlight or Heat Encourages Fungal and Bacterial Growth
Bottled water isn't exactly pure. Some bottled water is actually tap water and have not gone through extensive purification processes that filter out any contaminants. As a result, you can expect there a certain level of bacterial and fungal in the water. When exposed to sunlight or heat regularly, the excess energy causes the fungi and the bacteria in the water to replicate and grow. Before you know it, the bottled water may be a swimming pool filled with microbes.
Fortunately, bottled water is not a good medium for fungi or bacterial growth because it contains minimal amount of nutrients, so you won't see bottled water teeming with these microbes. However, keeping bottled water stored at recommended temperatures prevent microbial growth and keeps the water fresh.
Conclusion
Renting a self-storage unit for keeping essentials needed for survival in a time of crisis is certainly a good idea, but make sure you store everything at recommended temperatures and humidity levels. Bottled water should always ideally be stored in climate-controlled self-storage units.
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