What is the cleanest part of your house? Surprisingly, the cleanest part of your house is likely to be your toilet pan. While the bathroom is wrongly thought to be a hothouse of bacteria in your home, the toilet has been proven time and time again to carry fewer bacteria than certain areas of your kitchen.
Kitchen rags, towels and sponges are notorious for bacterial contamination. The sink drain, sink and countertops are also frequently contaminated. Cutting boards, coffee filters, the dishwasher and fridge seals are also top locations for contamination.
“Everyone's afraid of butt-borne diseases, but toilet seats tend to be the cleanest thing in the bathroom because we clean them so often,” says Charles Gerba, a professor of microbiology at the University of Arizona.
But the filthiest culprit in our homes is the kitchen sponge or cloth. According to Gerba, there are about 10 million bacteria per square inch on a sponge, and a million on a dishcloth. In other words, a kitchen sponge is 200,000 times dirtier than a toilet seat, and a dishcloth is 20,000 times dirtier.
Research shows that about 200,000 bacteria live in each square inch of carpet (nearly 700 times more than on your toilet seat), including E. coli, staphylococcus, and salmonella.
Toilet water is generally cleaner than tap water because it undergoes additional filtration and treatment processes. For example, toilet water is typically treated with chlorine, which helps to kill bacteria and other harmful microbes.
The cleanest objects ever manufactured are the sample return tubes used by NASA's Perseverance Mars rover (which launched on 30 July 2020).
Think the toilet is the dirtiest spot in the house? You'd be wrong. "There's more fecal bacteria in your kitchen sink than there is in a toilet after you flush it," said microbiologist Charles Gerba, known as "Dr. Germ."
Your gut is home to most of the microbes in your body, but your skin, mouth, lungs, and genitalia also harbour diverse populations. And as research continues into body biomes, it should reveal answers about how these microorganisms are promoting health or even disease.
Kitchen Sponge
Wrong. According to germ expert Charles Gerba, a microbiologist at the University of Arizona, the kitchen sponge is actually the dirtiest item in your home. Here's why: While you clean various surfaces and dishes with your sponge, the porous surface collects food particles.
Kitchen. The kitchen is one of the busiest rooms in most homes and also the dirtiest. All of the elements that encourage bacteria to grow–heat, moisture, and food–are readily available.
Clutter can make an otherwise clean room look messy. Just because you have the space doesn't mean you need to fill every nook and cranny. Home stagers at MHM Professional Staging recommend leaving space between furniture and fixtures.
Clutter and mess can create more stress and anxiety, but by cleaning, organizing, and reducing the clutter, people are able to take control of their environment and create a more relaxing environment that helps them focus better on the more pressing issues in their lives.
Studies have shown that the average smartphone is covered with more bacteria than toilet seats, kitchen counters, the bottom of shoes and pet's food dishes, among other things.
Slowly add 1 teaspoon (5 ml) of bleach to 2 cups (500 ml) of water. To be used on surfaces contaminated with feces, vomit, urine or blood. Slowly add ½ cup (125 ml) of bleach to 4 ½ cups (1125 ml) of water. (e.g., environmental cleaning, body fluids, etc.).
Germs live everywhere. You can find germs (microbes) in the air; on food, plants and animals; in the soil and water — and on just about every other surface, including your body.
Finland. About 35% of Finland's energy comes from renewable energy resources. Finland ranks first in the world for Environmental Health (99.3) and Air Quality (98.8). Its Environmental Performance Index (EPI) is 78.9.
The cleanest country in the world is Denmark as per the Environmental Performance Index (EPI). Its EPI value is at 82.5.
Switzerland
Switzerland scores a perfect 100 in forestry, water quality (effects on humans) and biodiversity and habitat. Like most rich, industrialized nations, its lowest scoring was in air pollution (effects on ecosystem).
Unfortunately, yes, it is bad for dogs to drink toilet water. Drinking toilet water isn't a harmless habit, and there can be real consequences. By ignoring this problem, your pet runs the risk of picking up germs or, worse, becoming extremely ill.
To reiterate, the question is toilet water clean? The answer is still NO! The water in your toilet is not drinkable. The toilet in your home is one of the most used fixtures, so it's important to keep it clean.
Most U.S. residents don't need to worry about the safety of their tap water, but millions of Americans are still exposed to contaminants every year. It can take a water crisis to highlight where drinking water infrastructure is failing.