Water in Mexico

[Boomp]

Amebic dysentary is not food poisoning either. We've traveled to Mexico [still doing it] for 20 years, Belize 10 and I get 'Montazuma's revenge' about every 3 years. And while not certain which bug that is [bacterial?] I think the antigens often protect me but if I am not careful ie brushing teeth, eating salads when questionable washing sources exist or drinking juice made w tapwater I get slammed. My wife seem tougher, I don't think she has ever gotten sick in Mex but did last year in Belize. I have friends who wash all thier food w a 10% bleach but then complain about the taste. I have other friends who are residents in Cozumel and they deal w dysentary almost yearly. Seriously, if you are not careful you will get sick.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Boomp

Amebic dysentary is not food poisoning either...

Amebiasis (Amoebic Dysentery) is caused by a protozoan single-celled parasite called Entamoeba Histolytica.
Infection is acquired by the fecal-oral route, either directly by person-to-person contact or indirectly by eating or drinking fecally contaminated food or water.
See:
Division of Parasitic Diseases - Amebiasis Fact Sheet
And:
Chapter 4 - Amebiasis - Yellow Book | CDC Travelers' Health

[jzk]

I was at this girls apartment in Dusseldorf many years ago, and I put a glass right up to the tap, and she looked at me like I was crazy. "I can't believe you americans drink right from the tap." She then ran across the street to buy me some water - "gas or no gas?"

Growing up on Chicago water, the tap water is probably better than bottled. Not so much everywhere else. I remember getting a little sick in the Dominican Republic.

[svnakia]

We cruised the Pacific Coast of Mexico for over three years, full time, year round. We don't have a water maker and never had a problem getting potable water.

Many marinas have potable water at the dock.

Bottled water, in 5 gallon 'garafones', is available everywhere and costs anywhere between 8 pesos to 20 pesos for 5 gallons (about $.80 USD to $2 USD). The low price is available if you take your 5 gallon jug to the water purification plant, the $2 price is if you have the 5 gallons delivered to your boat.

The interesting thing we found is that even though we could get potable drinking water from many marinas, we still prefer to drink purified bottled water. The bottled water is REALLY pure. One time a friend gave us 20 gallons of water from their watermaker and we found it too salty to be really drinkable. We tested the watermaker water and found 300 ppm total dissolved solids. We tested the purified drinking water and found 12 ppm. That's pretty pure.

This winter we continued down the pacific coast through El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica and Ecuador. Purified drinking water, in 5 gallon jugs, has been available every step of the way. The water in Central America was more expensive, usually around $3.50 USD per 5 gallons. In Ecuador its $1.50 USD.

I've looked closely at how much water we've bought over our 3.5 years cruising and even if I calculate the total cost using the highest prices we've ever paid for water, we still haven't spent enough on water to pay for a watermaker. Or even half a watermaker.

The only reason to have a watermaker on the pacific coast of Mexico, Central America and Northern South America is convenience. If you have a water maker you won't be drinking better water, you only gain the convenience of not having to deal with buying 5 gallon jugs of water.

John
S/V NAKIA
Web Log of Sailing Vessel NAKIA

[highseas]

sore tummy,take some nutribiotic.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by highseas

sore tummy,take some nutribiotic.

“NutriBiotic” is a tradename applied to grapefruit extract in liquid form; listing it’s ingrediants as: Deionized Water (67%) and Citricidal (33%).
“Citricidal” in liquid form is 60% grapefruit extract* (quaternary compound) and 40% vegetable glycerin.

* This extract is promoted by marketers on the internet. Some consumers believe this extract is an effective natural preservative, despite the findings of multiple scientific studies that have concluded any universal antimicrobial activity is merely from contamination* with synthetic antimicrobials.

* The USDA did a grapefruit seed extract study and declared, “Confirming an earlier study by researchers in Germany we found that some commercial grapefruit seed extracts contain benzethonium chloride, a synthetic antimicrobial agent commonly used in cosmetics and only approved for topical use, at relatively high levels of 8%.”
Goto full text: http://www.terressentials.com/takeokagrapefruitseed.pdf

Grapefruit has serious interactions with many commonly prescribed medications and can lead to unpredictable and hazardous levels of certain important drugs. Grapefruit juice inhibits a special enzyme in the intestines that is responsible for the natural breakdown and absorption of many medications and when the action of this enzyme is blocked, the blood levels of these medications increase, which can lead to toxic side effects from the medications. Grapefruit juice research suggests that flavonoids and furanocoumarins are responsible for this effect. The following medications (and possibly others) should not be consumed with grapefruit juice unless advised by a doctor: Statins (Cholesterol Lowering Drugs): Baycol (Cerivastatin); Mevacor (Lovastatin); Lipitor (Atorvastatin); Zocor (Simvastatin). Antihistamines: Ebastine; Seldane (Terfenadine, taken off the U.S. market). Calcium Channel Blockers (Blood Pressure Drugs): Nimotop (Nimodipine); Nitrendipine; Plendil (Felodipine); Pranidipine; Sular (Nisoldipine); Psychiatric Medications: Buspar (Buspirone); Halcion (Triazolam); Tegretol (Carbamazepine); Valium (Diazepam); Versed (Midazolam). Intestinal Medications: Propulsid (Cisapride, taken off the U.S. market). Immune Suppressants: Neoral (Cyclosporine); Prograf (Tacrolimus). Pain Medications: Methadone. Impotence Drug: Viagra (Sildenafil). Other drugs may have potential interactions with grapefruit including: Amiodarone (Cordarone„¥); Cilostazol (Pletal„¥); Donepezil (Aricept„¥); Losartan (Cozaar„¥); Montelukast (Singulair„¥); Pimozide (Orap„¥); Quetiapine (Seroquel„¥); Tamoxifen (Nolvadex„¥) and Tamsulosin (Flomax„¥).

[Delezynski]

Jack, All,

We are now in Marina Mazatlan and have been told y the marina NOT to drink dock water. John is correct in that we get 5 gallons of water delivered for US$2.00 (on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays only). But would like to make it easy.


I was surfing the net yesterday in regard to water and found this filter.
Premium Ceramic carbon water filter cartridge CeramiKX
Before we went cruising we saw ceramic filters, but they were in the US$400.00 to $800.00 price range. THIS filer, at US$30.00 is a breakthrough. I am working out how to get one down here now!


Hope this helps...


Greg

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by Delezynski

Jack, All,




I was surfing the net yesterday in regard to water and found this filter.
Premium Ceramic carbon water filter cartridge CeramiKX
Before we went cruising we saw ceramic filters, but they were in the US$400.00 to $800.00 price range. THIS filer, at US$30.00 is a breakthrough. I am working out how to get one down here now!






Greg

I am confused.
The water needs to be free of pathogens.
This site says;

Use MATRIKX® carbon filters only with microbiologically safe and adequately disenfected water. Activated carbon filters are not designed to kill or remove viruses.

[Delezynski]

This is more than a carbon filter...

The Best Ceramic Filter In the World- Ceramic Extruded Carbon Block
The µall-carbon” CERAMIKX® filter combines the fine particulate reduction of a traditional ceramic filter with the chlorine, taste and odor reduction of activated carbon. With 99.9996% reduction of E. coli, the 0.2 µm CERAMIKX® filter meets NSF Standard 53 criteria for particulate removal and turbidity reduction, and the control of cysts, including Cryptosporidium and Giardia. CERAMIKX® filters also meet NSF Standard 42 for chlorine @ 95% reduction of free chlorine for up to >2,000 gallons.

Bold is partly mine..
This is about as good as it can get (other than RO or distilling). We then use a PUR on our sink and it also does about the same as above for a double filter.

Greg

[Therapy]

OK.
...........

[stevensc]

I spent many years working in the tropics, Americas and Africa, and got stomach sick often, I found Lomotil was by far the best curative. If you are going to buy bottled water I suggest asking for "Agua Mineral Con Gas" otherwise you will often get it form the tap. They have ways of making a refilled bottle look "sealed". The bars will do the same with a bottle of "expensive" scotch if you hang out in the sleazier parts of town, not that I ever did!
By the way I feel buying bottled water here in the US is the biggest waste of money imaginable, not to mention the approximately 6 billion empty bottles which wind up in the trash or roadsides every year. It is an 8 billon dollar a year industry, what a rip off!
Steve
Steve

[hellosailor]

Greg, their disclaimer that the miracle filter is only to be used with SAFE water, would seem to mean that the rest of their claims may be somewhat exaggerated. You might be better off installing a UV-C light, which are commercially used in RO and other water systems to provide a TOTAL KILL of all organic life forms, including virii and bacteria.

The smaller the critters are, the more "sunburn" the UV-C gives them. As long as the water is clear, they get fried. Check out the SteriPen if you want a portable version.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Delezynski

This is more than a carbon filter...

As far as I can see, this is NOT more than a carbon filter...

There are a number of different NSF standards, and different levels of compliance within the standards. NSF certification does not mean much unless you know exactly what a specific certification standard stands for.

Many companies, including KX Industries (“Ceramikx “) state on their literature "Tested to NSF standards".
Ask:
Tested by who? How often? Who backs up that claim?

The NSF site provides an on-line comparison of water filtration units and bottled water products that are certified by NSF.

NSF Certified Products - Drinking Water Treatment Units

I checked the NSF on-line site, and neither the company (SK) nor the filter (Ceramikx) was listed as certified.

KX Industries data sheet only claims that their “Ceramikx” MEETS NSF/ANSI Standard 53 for Cysr reduction; and warns “Use this CERAMIKX® carbon filter only with microbiologically safe and adequately disinfected water, as it is not designed to kill or remove bacteria or viruses.”
http://www.filtersfast.com/Ceramikx-Data-Sheet.pdf

NSF/ANSI Standard 53: Drinking Water Treatment Units
Health Effects
Overview: Standard 53 addresses point-of-use (POU) and point-of-entry (POE) systems designed to reduce specific health-related contaminants, such as Cryptosporidium, Giardia, lead, volatile organic chemicals (VOCs), MTBE (methyl tertiary-butyl ether), that may be present in public or private drinking water.

The point-of-use and systems addressed by this standard are designed to be used for the reduction of specific substances that may be present in drinking water (public or private). These substances are considered established or potential health hazards. They may be microbiological, chemical, or particulate (including filterable cysts) in nature. It is recognized that a system may be effective in controlling one or more of these contaminants, but it is not required to control all. Activated carbon filter systems covered by this standard are not intended to be used with water that is micro biologically unsafe or of unknown quality without adequate disinfection before or after the system. This standard establishes requirements for point-of-use drinking water treatment systems, and the materials and components used in these systems. It also establishes requirements for point-of-entry drinking water treatment systems used to treat all or part of the water at the inlet to a residential facility or a bottled water production facility and the materials and components used in these systems.

[Delezynski]

Hellosailor,


I guess what had me confused was that on the web page it talks about the “CERAMIKX” filter and also talks about the “MATRIKX” filter.


I thought the CERAMIKS was a ceramic filter like the ones I have seen in the past, with carbon in it. I know that a simple carbon block (or carbon crystals) is no good for organics much smaller than a kitten.


I have looked at the Steripen, but as a full time cruising and live aboard, this devise is just to small! I also looked at units I could build in, but at 27 foot, we don't have room for everything we would “like” to have aboard. The power usage is also more than we want.




Gord May,


Thanks for looking that up!

I checked the NSF on-line site, and neither the company (SK) nor the filter (Ceramikx) was listed as certified.

I guess it looks like we are just going to keep up doing as we have in the past. That is getting bottled water (5 gallons each) when in port. We are adventures eaters, so I guess this won't help much. Just as we face storms at sea, so goes the risk of a storm in the belly.


By the way, we do carry the medications aboard that were recommended by local doctors and people who have had a bad problem in the past. After 4 years in Mexico, we have had bouts with Montezuma, but nothing serious.


Here in Mazatlan, the maria said we should not drink the dock water. In talking to a number of other boaters, they all seem to. So, I thought that by adding this filter to the fill system, I could at least make the dock water safer than just filling up like the others. I will have to think about this for a time. I see another maker of ceramic water filters, (Dalton), that I have to look at. Then see if there are others. I was just hoping for one that was lower in cost than US$300.00+!


Thanks for the feedback.


Greg

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by GordMay

As far as I can see, this is NOT more than a carbon filter...

There are a number of different NSF standards, and different levels of compliance within the standards. NSF certification does not mean much unless you know exactly what a specific certification standard stands for.

<etc.....>

Thanks Gord.

Kinda what I was thinking. It is all so "buyer beware" with all the "snake oil" out there.