Your water's worst enemy isn't time. It's the bottle. Cheap plastic, especially when it gets warm, starts to “leach.” That’s a fancy word for plastic chemicals sneaking into your drink.
You know that weird “plastic taste” in a hot water bottle? That’s antimony, a heavy metal, saying hello. It’s not poison in Hollywood doses, but it’s not exactly a spa treatment either.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration considers sealed, plastic bottled water safe for up to two years. Two years. That’s longer than some celebrity marriages. But that’s only if it’s stored perfectly cool and dark.