Ants come out of filtered water faucet

[Larry Schwarcz]

Hi everyone,

I'm asking this question for a friend. She's the admin for a large group at one of the BIG tech companies here in silicon valley. Her whole group just moved into a different building that had been empty for a week or two.

The first time she turned on the faucet for the filtered water in the break room a stream of ants came out! They were still alive and after a bit the ants were gone and it was water that came out.

I'm figuring the only way the ants could have gotten into the faucet is through the end. They must have been on the counter top and crawled up and into the spout end. The cleaning crews likely cleaned off the ants on the counter top and those in the spout stayed until it was turned on.

The ants are now gone but my big concern would be how safe is the water from that spout? Who knows what they may have used to clean away the ants (some pesticide?) and would the stream of water flush away any residue inside the spout? Is that water from the faucet safe?

Any thoughts? Should she get that faucet replaced?

Thanks in advance!
Larry.

 

[Reach4]

If they used anything, I would like to think they would use chlorine bleach. That kills stuff including germs, washes out readily, and has a smell-- so residual can be easily detected.

I would think it would be good to get an exterminator to rid the building of ants.

 

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[Sylvan]

Run hot water

 

[ImOld]

Get an ant filter!

 

[WorthFlorida]

Ants go for the moisture. I once had an ant nest inside the timer housing of a dishwasher. They were always inside the dishwasher and I had to watch their trail.

 

[Larry Schwarcz]

Thanks everyone and sorry about this late reply! I thought I had the flag set to e-mail me when someone replied but I guess I didn't .

Larry.