Drinking water in Cozumel

[Saboteur]

..

You are going to filter the bottled water?

I carry a refillable water bottle with me when I travel.. may as well use one with a filter. If as it seems there are big jugs of water in lobby’s etc. I’ll refill from and filter that supply. No telling what kind of biofilm/gunk may be inside the spigot. It’s like double masking

 

[ontdiver]

As an adjunct to this thread, it is worth reminding ourselves of the number of "boil water advisories" that are regularly issued in communities throughout North America.

 

[lionfish-eater]

Of all the bottled water available, I prefer Crystal.

 

[El Graduado]

Of all the bottled water available, I prefer Crystal.

We actually have it much better today than the old days in Cozumel. I remember when not everybody had city water. You had one-story-high, cylindrical, cement water tanks to catch rain for soft water and a polluted well for hard water. Later, we got asbestos/cementitious water storage tanks for the roof. The city workers often came by unannounced and dropped packets of mosquito-larva suppressant in your tank.

Bottled water came either in 5-gallon, glass garafones (ask Augustus how dangerous those were!), or glass soda-bottles of Peñafiel, Tehuacan, or Topochico. There were no plastic bottles of water. Ice was made from purified water, but the freezing tanks were left open during the over-night process, and tree frogs regularly showed up frozen stiff in the middle of 25-pound blocks. Running those blocks through the crusher to get crushed ice often left bags of ice with mysterious, bloody blobs in them.

Ah, the Good Old Days!

 

[Saboteur]

We actually have it much better today than the old days in Cozumel. I remember when not everybody had city water. You had one-story-high, cylindrical, cement water tanks to catch rain for soft water and a polluted well for hard water. Later, we got asbestos/cementitious water storage tanks for the roof. The city workers often came by unannounced and dropped packets of mosquito-larva suppressant in your tank.

Bottled water came either in 5-gallon, glass garafones (ask Augustus how dangerous those were!), or glass soda-bottles of Peñafiel, Tehuacan, or Topochico. There were no plastic bottles of water. Ice was made from purified water, but the freezing tanks were left open during the over-night process, and tree frogs regularly showed up frozen stiff in the middle of 25-pound blocks. Running those blocks through the crusher to get crushed ice often left bags of ice with mysterious, bloody blobs in them.

Ah, the Good Old Days!

 

[El Graduado]

View attachment 818564

You need to read my newest book, Cozumel's Golden Years, available on Amazon!

 

[Augustus]

about 16-20 stiches worth when one broke apart carrying it on my shoulder. Shortly after that I saw the plastic garafons in Houston and flew in with a couple. Was very popular with the aduana Everyone wanted the plastic version. Started flying in with 4 or five taped together as luggage.

 

[34109411]

That work is not being done to address the "non-potability" of the "potable" water. The work being done on Melgar is to alleviate the back-up of raw sewage that so very often spews into the air from the manhole covers on Melgar because the small-diameter pipes can no longer handle (and weren't designed to handle) the volume of sewage that the city produces. That work is now is now three months behind schedule and who knows when it will be finished. They are not doing anything to the rest of the city's water distribution system, just Av. Melgar.

The system is operated by the state government's agency CAPA. They, like all the others water agencies in Mexico, focus on supplying water to homes and businesses at low pressure, so that the individuals must wait until the nighttime water pressure is enough to push the water to a roof-top tank, and then use either gravity or a pressure vessel to run it through the owner's home pipes. CAPA is not mandated to provide potable water; just water. There are no cities in Mexico that I know of that have truly potable water suppled to homes or businesses by the government.

In Cozumel's case, semi-brackish water is pumped from deep wells in the center of the island from our (once) freshwater aquifer. Over-pumping has allowed saltwater intrusion to foul the aquifer and the wells. That brackish water is pumped to a tank where it is chlorinated before being pumped at low pressure throughout the city through a web of pipes that are buried in trenches carved out of the solid bedrock. Laid out in the same trench alongside the city's water pipes are crumbling sewer pipes made from asbestos and cement. These sewer pipes leak into the trench underground, and wherever there is a leak in the low pressure "potable" water pipes, the raw sewage in the trench can infiltrate the water pipe, contaminating the once-purified water. The water arriving at your house is a mix of once-purified water and raw sewage.

good resume !

 

[Catito]

What are the general rules on drinking water and eating ice in Cozumel?

I had a terrible two days of vomiting because one evening I forgot and drank water served by a waiter with a pitcher— resort to remain unnamed. Terrible! I have lived in some remote places, including a mud hut in Zaire…and never was as sick as I was from Cozumel water.

 

[34109411]

hi ! you might thing it s the water it could be something else also. Don't forget in all inclusive in the buffet germs are running around ! People are assuming it's always the water but there is a lot more to consider. Always bring cipro with you. a good way to prevent disease is also to take Dukoral before your trip.