While you’re crushing your hydration goals you might be wondering how often you should clean your reusable water bottles. You might think once every few weeks, those bottles can’t get that dirty right? You might be surprised by just how dirty your water bottles can get. Water bottles are actually great breeding grounds for bacteria. Testing done by a New Jersey-based Lab EmLab P&K found that the average reusable water bottle has around 300,000 colony forming units of bacteria per square centimeter. To put that in perspective that number is six times the amount of bacteria found in your pet bowls. Did you just start cleaning, because same. But don’t let this scare you away from hydrating, cleaning your reusable water bottles doesn’t have to be a hassle and we are here to help. 

Choosing a Reusable Water Bottle 

Reusable water bottles help us drink more water (plus reduce landfill waste!) so selecting one that you don’t have to continuously refill and is easy to clean makes this daily ritual easier to maintain. Lucky for you the HydroJug is here to solve all those worries.The HydroJug holds a half gallon of water and features a wide-mouth opening making it easy to clean the inside of your bottle.The HydroJug is also dishwasher safe so if you don’t have much time you can just throw it in the dishwasher. Customize your jug here.

How Often to Clean Reusable Water Bottles

You should treat your reusable water bottle just like any other dishware you own and clean it thoroughly and frequently, daily cleanings are ideal. The main areas you will want to focus on cleaning will be around the drinking nozzle, this is a prime location for bacteria to stick around. Just remember you wouldn’t use the same dishes for a week without cleaning them the same goes for your HydroJug. 

How To Clean Your Reusable Water Bottles

There are three different methods of cleaning we recommend: 

-Soap and Water: You may use warm soapy water to rinse the inside and outside of your water bottle. After cleaning leave it out to air dry overnight. 

-White Wine Vinegar: Fill your jug a fifth of the way with white wine vinegar then the rest of the bottle with water. Let the contents sit overnight then the next morning rinse out the mixture and let your reusable bottle air dry. 

-Dishwasher- HydroJugs are dishwasher safe! This will make cleaning your reusable jugs a breeze. We recommend washing your HydroJugs on the top shelf. If you have a hard time fitting your jug on the top rack lay it down on its side with the handle down. For other water bottles check cleaning instructions to make sure it’s dishwasher safe.