My folks refilled the same water bottles for over 20 years at the family cottage without trouble. Some of them started life as undiluted fruit juice containers or vinegar bottles, all of them one gallon or 4 litre in volume. Originally we filled them from a few hundred yards out into Georgian Bay (Great Lakes, Ontario Canada) and tested the water with some kit which the province would provide. Later (and still) we fill them from an artesian well a few miles away. The bottles look pretty funky these days, and some have been replaced with more modern (and less sturdy) ones from various sources. None of these were washed near as often as they should have been until this year when my wife insisted on regular (ie annual?) cleansing. Our well water has so much iron in it that it's almost weldable.

As for the little personal sized ones, we use and re-use the same ones for days on end while camping with no more than rinsing. I have an evil addiction to Diet Coke so I generally re-use those bottles until I loose, crush, or loose faith in the seal. I do the same at work where the tap water is likely no better than camp site water.

While in Prince Edward Island last month we happily re-used the glass bottles everything comes in since plastic doesn't appear to be available. They're heavier, but I like the old time feel and whatever recycling advantages the Island claims.

Since the tap water killed alot of people in Walkerton (about an hour away) bottled water is a major business. I'm gonna give up when we have to use bottled air.

Peace, Mooh.