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Drinking from the hose


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When you were a kid did you drink from the garden hose?

 

Do you let your kids?

 

My answer is yes to both, but it's come to my attention that other people don't allow it.

 

If you don't let your kids do this, why not? I'm just curious.

 

I had no idea I was being so rebellious and free-range in my liberal hose-drinking policy :001_smile:

 

I love being able to ask the most random questions here. :D

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Drink from the hose, save a glass. My bigger concern these days is wether or not our cities water supply is safe to drink so we're unlikely to drink from the hose these days only because we have quit drinking the water, period.

 

We keep getting notices about the rising arsenic levels. The last notice was red and seemed to contradict itself. The water meets federal standards, but they've been given two extra years to bring it up to federal standards. Huh!:confused:

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I drank from the hose growing up. I do NOT allow my kids to drink from the house because link. Another Link.

 

Most hoses are made from PVC, which can leak high amounts of lead into the water. Additionally, the metal fittings can also leach lead into the water. They can also harbor other contaminants such as E coli, Camphylobacter. (see first link).

Edited by joannqn
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When I was growing up we always drank out of the hose. Now I have it in my mind that I read somewhere that you shouldn't drink out of the hose because of mold or something that could be in the hose. Anyone else heard that? Since I am a huge worrier, I don't have my kids drink out of the hose. That's not to say they never do it.

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Yes and yes. I don't make a habit of it for our family but I wouldn't think about forbidding it. I live in a city where the water is somewhat safe and I think being exposed to some germs is good for kids. I'm sure my hoses are lined with all types of nasty PVC but I'm okay with my children drinking out of them a few times over the summer. I wouldn't send them outside to drink out of it every time they were thirsty though!

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We didn't have a hose (grew up in the city) but we did drink from the outside faucet. I don't let my kids drink from the hose because I'd read somewhere about bacteria in there. My kids don't opt to drink from the hose anyway because they think it's nasty.

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When I went hose shopping in America I noticed that all the green hoses had small print warnings. Then I noticed a white hose that clearly said it was potable water. I think maybe there is a metal or something in green hoses. I bought the white one.

 

Yes, I did drink out of hoses when I was little. I also let my son drink out of ones that are meant for potable water.

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Yes and yes.

 

The lead used to stabilize the hose will leech out and then there won't be any anymore. Besides, I hardly think the amount of lead leeching out is enough to worry about, unless you spend all day drinking continuously out of the hose. I think this is just a case of being over cautious. No offense to anyone who doesn't allow it. I understand you might think I'm careless. :001_smile:

 

Oh, and we have our own well, so I don't worry about contaminated city water. That IS something I would worry about because I drink about 1/2 gallon of water daily, not from the hose though. lol

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Yes and yes.

 

The lead used to stabilize the hose will leech out and then there won't be any anymore. Besides, I hardly think the amount of lead leeching out is enough to worry about, unless you spend all day drinking continuously out of the hose. I think this is just a case of being over cautious. No offense to anyone who doesn't allow it. I understand you might think I'm careless. :001_smile:

 

But it only costs a couple dollars more to get hose meant for potable water. Even tiny amounts of lead can be harmful. And, of course, every lead exposure adds up.

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I did, but I rarely allow the children to, mainly because I don't let them turn the water on since they forget to turn the water off. I spend a great deal of my time in the summer months listening for water running.

 

:iagree:

 

I let the kids drink from the hose once in a great while if:

A. I'm out there with it turned on.

AND

B. They don't already have water bottles with them.

 

We generally carry our water bottles with us, though.

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Thanks for the link. I've just put 2 in my cart.

 

As to the original questions, yes. I drank from the green hose. On occasion my dd has also. Not the same hose, of course.

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Hmmm, something to think about. We use 150 foot hoses for our gardening needs. I'll check into it. We tend to buy only high quality, kink free hoses because we have to stretch them so far. If it costs less, I don't mind switching, but I'm still not worried about lead exposure. I lived and so did all my friends and we spent all summer drinking gobs of water out of hoses.

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But it only costs a couple dollars more to get hose meant for potable water. Even tiny amounts of lead can be harmful. And, of course, every lead exposure adds up.

 

:iagree:

 

 

And lead has a 30 half life. Half of the lead kids ingest today will still be in their body when they are our age.

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I agree there are hoses that are deemed "safe" for this. From the lead perspective. I didn't realize it before my family started camping though:001_huh:. Anyway, the first time the boys came barreling in the house dirty/wet/whatever to get a drink, I sent them back out for water from the hose. They are boy-boys now, but they seriously acted like I asked them to eat dirt for lunch or something! They were like "eww, gross, no way, we'll get germs & die" blah blah. I have no idea where they got that from. Not me. Anyway, it didn't work out. Now I just put cups of water on the deck & will refill if necessary :).

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:iagree:

 

I drank from the hose growing up. I do NOT allow my kids to drink from the house because link. Another Link.

 

Most hoses are made from PVC, which can leak high amounts of lead into the water. Additionally, the metal fittings can also leach lead into the water. They can also harbor other contaminants such as E coli, Camphylobacter. (see first link).

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We drank from hoses growing up. I don't think my ds would drink from a hose if his life depended on it because he would get his hands wet (whole other issue). Dd sometimes drinks out of the hose, but she knows only to drink from the hose that's hooked up to the potable water from the house, not from the untreated pressurized irrigation water hose.

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I don't recall drinking from the hose, but we did cup our hands and drink from the spring. It's not all bad though. I think growing up on an old farm with spring water and no septic tank is why I didn't get sick when I went to Mexico on my honeymoon (because my body was used to bacteria in my drinking water). OTOH, dh grew up on city water and got extremely sick in Mexico.

 

It wouldn't bother me if I saw my kids drinking from the garden hose. But I do try to keep them from drinking from public water fountains in parks and rest stops.

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We are on well water-- it is great-tasting and PURE!

DH hates that it leaves our shower door a bit cloudy (hard water)-- so he insisted on a potassium based water softener. Inside water is YUCKY now-- so the kids tend to get their water from the hose-- oldest dd is more sophisticated-- she uses the hose to fill up a Brita pitcher! Our pets and our houseplants also get water from the hose!

 

We do make sure our hoses are rated for 'drinking water' before we purchase them-- a few dollars more, but better safe than ill!

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