☁ Why you need to follow the 4-hour rule.

Your Summer Hydration Series: What You Really Need to Know.

Author

Claudi Clouds
August 04, 2025

THE WATER METHOD TO WELLNESS

HEY FROM THE SOURCE

This summer, I’m sending you two thoughtful emails each week for five weeks, unpacking hydration myths. Clarity, context, and care. No buzzwords. No diet gimmicks. Just honest, practical insight you can trust, because how you treat water reflects how you treat yourself.

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Your weekly dose of hydration intelligence. Simple habits for smarter, cleaner water.

#4: The 4-Hour Rule. Why You Should Let Your Tap Run

If water has been sitting stagnant in your home’s pipes for more than 4 hours, overnight, while you’re at work, or during any long period of inactivity, it can start to pick up unwanted substances from the plumbing materials.

What’s Really Happening in Your Pipes?

  1. Leaching of Metals: Many plumbing systems, especially in older buildings, use copper pipes, lead solder, or brass fixtures. When water remains still inside these pipes, it can leach trace amounts of lead, copper, and other metals into the water. Even low levels of these metals over time can affect health. Lead is particularly harmful, especially for children and pregnant women. While many older homes, especially those built before 1970, might still have them, newer constructions tend to use plastic or copper.

  2. Bacterial Growth: Stagnant water can also allow bacteria to grow in biofilms that line pipes, especially when water temperature rises. Although most municipal water is treated to be safe, biofilms can harbor microbes that impact taste, odor, and in some cases, safety.

  3. Disinfectant Decay: Municipal water treatment uses disinfectants like chlorine to keep water safe as it travels through the system. However, chlorine levels diminish the longer water sits in pipes, reducing its ability to inhibit microbial growth.

The Benefits of Flushing

By running the tap for 30 seconds to 2 minutes, you:

  • Flush out the “first flush” of water that may contain elevated levels of metals or microbes

  • Bring in fresh, treated water with adequate disinfectant residuals and better taste

You are flushing the pipes in your building until you get water in from the main pipe on the road.

Bottom Line

The 4-hour rule is an easy, proactive habit that helps ensure every glass of water you drink is as fresh and clean as possible. It’s a small step that protects your health and supports smarter hydration.

Flushing your taps after water has been sitting stagnant is a simple but effective step endorsed by water utilities and public health authorities across both the US and Europe.

— Clouds

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A Final Note

NOTES FROM THE MEADOW

❝

People who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the only ones who do.

Unkown

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Until next time! ☁

Disclaimer: This newsletter does not provide medical or nutritional advice. The content shared here is for informational and educational purposes only. To inspire a more mindful and empowered relationship with water, and yourself.