Ewww! 4 Weird Microbes Found in Your Drinking Water

You hit the tap, drawing water into a cup for your drinking pleasure in the middle of the night.

Did you ever think that there may be something still living in there? Water is crazy enough without thinking about the wide range of things which might be lurking.

Some microbes in the water can cause disease but many of them are just plain weird. After all, anything that can live through modern water treatments has to be strange, right?

We’ve compiled four of the strangest microbes for your reading pleasure. Take a look and see what might be hanging out in that cup of water you downed before bed.

1. Cryptosporidium

These tiny bacteria are present in pretty much every fresh water source. They also have a tendency to be able to make it through the filtration used by the majority of water treatment plants.

Current standards only require a removal rate of 99% for them.

While this may make them seem harmless, in larger amounts they can cause explosive bouts of diarrhea. The CDC notes that they have a hard outer shell that makes them resistant to the normal chlorine treatments.

Fortunately, except for an outbreak in Sydney, they rarely seem to cause problems in tap water.

2. Copepods

Tiny crustaceans? In my water?

It’s more likely than you think.

Researchers frequently find copepods in drinking water. They resemble horseshoe crabs and can reach up to 2mm in length. While ones that are visible to the naked eye are pretty rare, there has been a couple of infestations where people have been able to see them.

Fortunately, they’re harmless little guys and actually eat some of the stuff which can make you sick.

Unfortunately, if they’re big enough to see with the naked eye, it means that filtration has failed at some point along the line.

3. Rotifers

Rotifers are another microscopic animal that found in water. They reach up to 1mm in size, which allows them to be seen with the naked eye.

Like copepods, their presence in the water isn’t harmful in and of itself. It does indicate problems with the treatment of water, however.

In 2009 there was an outbreak of both these and copepods in Connecticut.

While rotifers are harmless, they can sometimes host harmful bacteria so their presence isn’t a good thing.

4. Naegleria Fowleri

It’s an amoeba that will eat your brain.

Okay, that’s a bit of a stretch, but these benign looking microorganisms can cause a serious infection that’s often fatal. Like 95% fatal.

Fortunately, there have only been 300 cases leading up to 2008, which means you don’t need to worry about the brain-eating amoeba.

Microbes in the Water: Not All Monsters

Not every microorganism that makes its way into your drinking water is a complete monster. I mean sure, there are brain-eating amoebas waiting for you, but not all microbes in the water are like that.

Some are even a bit cute. Take a look at the wide variety of copepods for instance.

The truth is that most people develop an immunity to the normal levels of bacteria and parasites in the region they hail from.

For those that worry, however, there are things like the UV-Guard which can sterilize water as it comes through the pipes.

For the rest of us, it’s just a fabulous part of a weird and wonderful world.

It’s Okay To Be A Little Weird

Let’s be honest; you like weird stuff. That’s okay because we dig strange things too (yes, including the television show)! We’ve got an entire blog dedicated to the weird astonishing world we live in. Wanna learn about more possible microbes in the water? Looking for some strange YouTube channels to watch?

Why not dive into some other weirdness and see what you can find?

Weirdomatic is the place where all weird things come to life through the amazing world of photographs – a corner of our wild imagination or the whimsical face of the reality?