Kids drinking out of a garden hose

We just had a girl come over for a play date with our daughter. She'd never
been here before, so I tried to be extra conscientious about things like not
letting her go out of our yard unwatched, me dropping in to check in with them
frequently, those sorts of things (both kids are 8, btw). My husband took them
for a long walk to the beach, and, because he was carrying no water, let the
kids drink out of garden hoses on the way there and back. He did not know (or
ask) the people who owned the hoses if this was okay.

I would not have presumed to use another person's hose without asking, and I
would not have assumed, especially for somebody else's kid, that the water was
safe to drink. I think he did the wrong thing. He thinks I'm crazy. The other
girl's parent, as it turned out, laughed about the whole thing when he heard
about it later. But that's not the point.

My husband claims that it never would have occurred to him that *anyone* would
think that the kids shouldn't be drinking out of garden hoses. I find that hard
to believe; in fact, I'm not even convinced drinking water out of a hose is
necessarily safe. He wants me to ask here if anyone else besides me would mind
having their kid drinking out of a hose. So does anyone here have an opinion?

Please, moderators, let this have enough parenting content! This is
something I need to know!

beeswing,
hitting SEND

My husband wants me to clarify that it was only one hose at only one house and
the water was already running. For what it's worth. (As far as I'm concerned:
Absolutely nothing.)

We await your wise guidance, members of mkm.

beeswing

In article ,
(Beeswing) wrote:

My husband wants me to clarify that it was only one hose at only one house and
the water was already running. For what it's worth. (As far as I'm concerned:
Absolutely nothing.)

We await your wise guidance, members of mkm.

beeswing


Actually, I think that IS worth something: I had visions of your
husband walking up to a stranger's house and turning on the outside
water hose to give the kids a drink of water!

I drink out of hoses all the time, and would have no concerns about the
safety. In fact, I LIKE the way it feels to drink water out of a
running hose, but I'm told I'm odd in many ways. The water is the same
as the water that comes into your sink, and, if you've let the water run
for a while, chances of there being anything nasty to drink are pretty
remote.

I don't know if I would pick up a strangers' hose, but suspect that if I
were with thirsty kids, and the water was already running, and it didn't
involve any serious trespassing (didn't have to open a gate or anything)
-- I'd probably have done the same thing that your husband did.

meh
--
Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care

dragonlady wrote:


I drink out of hoses all the time, and would have no concerns about the
safety. In fact, I LIKE the way it feels to drink water out of a
running hose, but I'm told I'm odd in many ways. The water is the same
as the water that comes into your sink, and, if you've let the water run
for a while, chances of there being anything nasty to drink are pretty
remote.


Actually, the water coming out of my hose is not the same as the water that
comes out of my sink. The water coming out of the hose comes directly from
our well. The water coming out of our sink runs through a water purification
system which filters out 5 times the legal limit of arsenic and many times
more than that the legal limit of radon.

You wouldn't get sick from drinking out of the hose once, but repeated ingestion
could make you sick.

Diane

In article ,
Beeswing wrote:
My husband wants me to clarify that it was only one hose at only one house and
the water was already running. For what it's worth. (As far as I'm concerned:
Absolutely nothing.)
We await your wise guidance, members of mkm.

OK, I'll bite :-)

In the spring when I pump out the low spots in our back yard (lest
ducks and the local Canada goose flock take up residence) the garden
hoses are used to carry the (rather muddy) water to the street. Ditto
for the winter when the normal sump pump exhaust pipe freezes.

I don't let kids drink out of them.

[Wasn't there a recent article in Consumers Reports on trace chemicals
leaching into the water?]

In article ,
(Allen McIntosh) wrote:

In article ,
Beeswing wrote:
My husband wants me to clarify that it was only one hose at only one
house and
the water was already running. For what it's worth. (As far as I'm
concerned:
Absolutely nothing.)
We await your wise guidance, members of mkm.

OK, I'll bite :-)

In the spring when I pump out the low spots in our back yard (lest
ducks and the local Canada goose flock take up residence) the garden
hoses are used to carry the (rather muddy) water to the street. Ditto
for the winter when the normal sump pump exhaust pipe freezes.

I don't let kids drink out of them.

[Wasn't there a recent article in Consumers Reports on trace chemicals
leaching into the water?]


My goodness you people all use your garden hoses
for things other than gardening We have no
pools in the neighborhood, or low spots, or ponds.
Hoses here are used just for watering lawns and
gardens, occasionally for washing down driveways,
although I consider that a phenomenal waste of
water.

I have no clue what our hoses are made of. The kids
drink water from them maybe 2x a year. I think they
are more likely to trip going up the stairs to the
kitchen and hurt themselves than to acquire a
transitory bug from the hose or to be bothered by
a small chemical dose. It seems to me that the
interior of a hose, with no nutrients, and little
light, and chemically treated water, is not an ideal
spot for bacterial growth, especially considering
how hot they get when lying in the sun.

The OP had two tired thirsty kids on a walk, with a
hose running, attached to the house. It had been
running a while. Seemed like a no-brainer to me.
This does not mean that I advocate constant hose
imbibing -- but in a pinch, why not?

scott DD 10 ds 7

said:

In article ,
Beeswing wrote:
My husband wants me to clarify that it was only one hose at only one house and
the water was already running. For what it's worth. (As far as I'm concerned:
Absolutely nothing.)
We await your wise guidance, members of mkm.

OK, I'll bite :-)

In the spring when I pump out the low spots in our back yard (lest
ducks and the local Canada goose flock take up residence) the garden
hoses are used to carry the (rather muddy) water to the street. Ditto
for the winter when the normal sump pump exhaust pipe freezes.

That would be illegal here. Any water that leaves your property is
supposed to be going by way of your sewer line connection.

My rule of thumb for hoses in the summer is that if the water is cool,
it's coming from the bib and should be ok to drink. If it's hot, it's
been sitting in the hose, and we don't know what's in it.

I would want to see that the hose is connected to a hose bib, because
otherwise I would likely be drinking somebody's swimming pool water.

I grew up drinking out of my parents' hose on hot summer days, and
would let my son do the same. However, the same does not hold true
for random stragers' hoses, especially on older homes where lead pipes
might not have been replaced where they only lead to an outdoor faucet
if the homeowner doesn't normally drink from the hose.

just my $0.02

Susan

On Thu, 31 Jul 2003 00:18:54 EDT, (Beeswing) wrote:

We just had a girl come over for a play date with our daughter. She'd never
been here before, so I tried to be extra conscientious about things like not
letting her go out of our yard unwatched, me dropping in to check in with them
frequently, those sorts of things (both kids are 8, btw). My husband took them
for a long walk to the beach, and, because he was carrying no water, let the
kids drink out of garden hoses on the way there and back. He did not know (or
ask) the people who owned the hoses if this was okay.

I would not have presumed to use another person's hose without asking, and I
would not have assumed, especially for somebody else's kid, that the water was
safe to drink. I think he did the wrong thing. He thinks I'm crazy. The other
girl's parent, as it turned out, laughed about the whole thing when he heard
about it later. But that's not the point.

My husband claims that it never would have occurred to him that *anyone* would
think that the kids shouldn't be drinking out of garden hoses. I find that hard
to believe; in fact, I'm not even convinced drinking water out of a hose is
necessarily safe. He wants me to ask here if anyone else besides me would mind
having their kid drinking out of a hose. So does anyone here have an opinion?

Please, moderators, let this have enough parenting content! This is
something I need to know!

beeswing,
hitting SEND

Beeswing wrote:
We just had a girl come over for a play date with our daughter. She'd never
been here before, so I tried to be extra conscientious about things like not
letting her go out of our yard unwatched, me dropping in to check in with them
frequently, those sorts of things (both kids are 8, btw). My husband took them
for a long walk to the beach, and, because he was carrying no water, let the
kids drink out of garden hoses on the way there and back. He did not know (or
ask) the people who owned the hoses if this was okay.

I would not have presumed to use another person's hose without asking, and I
would not have assumed, especially for somebody else's kid, that the water was
safe to drink. I think he did the wrong thing. He thinks I'm crazy. The other
girl's parent, as it turned out, laughed about the whole thing when he heard
about it later. But that's not the point.

My husband claims that it never would have occurred to him that *anyone* would
think that the kids shouldn't be drinking out of garden hoses. I find that hard
to believe; in fact, I'm not even convinced drinking water out of a hose is
necessarily safe. He wants me to ask here if anyone else besides me would mind
having their kid drinking out of a hose. So does anyone here have an opinion?

Please, moderators, let this have enough parenting content! This is
something I need to know!

beeswing,
hitting SEND


If I understand this, your BH had 2 thirsty kids and walked by
a running hose, and they drank from it?

I'm not sure what's objectionable about this, speaking as someone
who drank from a hose a lot while young. My kids have drunk
water from hoses as well. As long as the water supply is okay --
and we live in a city with good water -- I don't see a problem.

I mean, the hose wasn't lying in a festering pool of manure before
they drank, was it? I'm not sure why it wouldn't be safe.

Scott DD 10 and DS 7

Scott DD 10 and DS 7 wrote:

I mean, the hose wasn't lying in a festering pool of manure before
they drank, was it? I'm not sure why it wouldn't be safe.

You only know where the hose is the minute you grab it. While the exact
scenario you describe is unlikely, you *don't* know where that hose has been or
what it's been used for. That doesn't mean one needs to get paranoid about it,
but it's still something to keep in mind. There's a lot of dirt (*gasp*),
pesticides, fertilizer of various sorts, and whatall in a garden, plus you
don't know if the innards of the hose are clean. That's without even getting
into the question of the quality of the water. I personally don't know how
worried one should be (maybe not at all, which is why I asked the question),
but I do believe there is an issue there to consider, at least.

beeswing