Filtered Water

paintedlbird7

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Mar 8, 2012
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Is using a water bottle with filter enough for me to drink from the faucet water?
I read other posts here where people first boil the water, then put it through a filter. Is that necessary in STI?
 

paintedlbird7

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Mar 8, 2012
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uuuooohhh now ur scarring me! I think I might boil the water just in case.

Last trip, I bought gallons of water & drank from that without anymore filtering.. This time, I want to save money.
I remember reading a post from a guy from SD where he says that he doesn't wash his face in the shower so that he doesn't accidentally drink the water! :ermm:
I was expecting worse when I accidentally drank the water, but I didn't get sick; & I would brush my teeth with the filtered water, but one or two times I had to use water from the faucet that was refrigerated, Didn't get sick.. So maybe I'll be okay.

Thanks for asking!
 

dv8

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Sep 27, 2006
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we drink bottled water. yes, it is additionally filtered by the fridge because that's how its water dispenser works. for larger amounts (to fill a water jug for the guests) i use water directly from the bottle. for tea/coffee it's boiled (bottled) water from the kettle.
but we are not freaks here, it's tap water for all else including brushing teeth and cooking pasta. when in the mountains i drank water from the river/stream and i have lived. i would not drink tap water in our house thou because we drop chloro pills into the cistern.
 

La Rubia

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Jan 1, 2010
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Is using a water bottle with filter enough for me to drink from the faucet water?
I read other posts here where people first boil the water, then put it through a filter. Is that necessary in STI?

Depends on the quality of the filter. What do the people you stay with do?

Personally, I wouldn't cut corners on the water. If you have to boil the water first, you are probably not saving that much money, gas isn't cheap, and asking someone to boil water for you is an unnecessary gringo accomodation for a short term visitor. I also brush my teeth in faucet water and drink collected rain water in the campo if that's what my hosts drink, and have had more unsafe ice than I'm comfortable with, so I am probably a medium risk taker.
 

bronzeallspice

Live everyday like it's your last
Mar 26, 2012
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I don't drink the water from the faucet.In time that could lead to stomach illnesses,bacterial infections.
So to avoid that,I drink bottled water.
 

dv8

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Sep 27, 2006
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bottled water is cheap once you have your 5 gallon bottle. 120 pesos or so for the first one and then about 35 pesos for each refill: you take an empty water to the shop/colmado and bring back a full one.
fill up a jug/bottle and store in the fridge. always keep your bottle closed with the blue plastic cap it comes with, to protect it from contamination.
tap water is safe for all other activities including washing and cooking. don't go crazy over simple stuff like that. no matter what you do at home you may still get sick from time to time because of general lack of hygiene in DR and contaminated food/drink. but in time you will build immunity to local nasties.
 

paintedlbird7

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Mar 8, 2012
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bottled water is cheap once you have your 5 gallon bottle. 120 pesos or so for the first one and then about 35 pesos for each refill: you take an empty water to the shop/colmado and bring back a full one.
fill up a jug/bottle and store in the fridge. always keep your bottle closed with the blue plastic cap it comes with, to protect it from contamination.
tap water is safe for all other activities including washing and cooking. don't go crazy over simple stuff like that. no matter what you do at home you may still get sick from time to time because of general lack of hygiene in DR and contaminated food/drink. but in time you will build immunity to local nasties.

I never once got sick while there. I did that, what you said about buying a gallon of bottled water for 30 pesos.
 

paintedlbird7

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Mar 8, 2012
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Depends on the quality of the filter. What do the people you stay with do?

Personally, I wouldn't cut corners on the water. If you have to boil the water first, you are probably not saving that much money, gas isn't cheap, and asking someone to boil water for you is an unnecessary gringo accomodation for a short term visitor. I also brush my teeth in faucet water and drink collected rain water in the campo if that's what my hosts drink, and have had more unsafe ice than I'm comfortable with, so I am probably a medium risk taker.

Right, I forgot about the cost of gas. My host family fills a jar from the faucet & refridgerates it.
 

waytogo

Moderator - North Coast Forum
Apr 3, 2009
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Santiago DR
I pay 35 pesos for a 5 gallon jug of bottled water from the local colmado.............
But I have to wonder, for that price, is the water really safe to drink...............
That's only 7 pesos a gallon, and that includes profit to the bottler and the colmado..............

B in Santiago
 

vida

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Mar 18, 2010
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I pay 50 pesos for 5 gallon bottle. 5 pesos is for delivery and I tip 20 pesos. 75 pesos. I probably spend 150 a week. I would not even think of drinking from the tap and my building puts cloro in the cistern.
 

nas

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Jul 1, 2009
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I pay 35 pesos for a 5 gallon jug of bottled water from the local colmado.............
But I have to wonder, for that price, is the water really safe to drink...............
That's only 7 pesos a gallon, and that includes profit to the bottler and the colmado..............

B in Santiago

It should be safe. The colmado only distributes it. They must be getting it from a middle man or directly from the distributor.

If the blue cap is compromised then, it might be a different story.

You should also consider the 35 pesos isn't much for you, but a local might feel otherwise. :chinese:
 

pelaut

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Aug 5, 2007
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Drinking water can be labeled "filtered", "purified", "distilled" or "reverse osmosis" or none of the above.

"Distilled" water, if the producer runs a clean shop is ok, but minerals may be eliminated by the process, so there is the hazard that drinking it exclusively will flush electrolytes from your body.

"Reverse osmosis", if done with sufficiently small micked filters which get properly serviced, can eliminate microbes but not most minerals. Undersink reverse osmosis filtering systems have long been on the market, and not all are bogus.

"Purified" and "filtered" — well yeah, with what and how, and how serviced hygienically? Tour the plant and ask questions? Yeah, sure. Once I saw some chopos filling big blue botellons with a garden hose, then shrinking the blue plastic caps on with a hair dryer. The bottles and the caps are readily available at large ferreterias.

The botellons are your best bet if you don't have an R/O machine or collect rain water. Find a good vendor and stick with them.
 

Koreano

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Jan 18, 2012
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After finding ourselves with leaking bottle cap almost every time. We don't even drink 5 gallon water straight up we boil them first. My wife always wash EVERY thing in tap water then rise it with bottle water just to feel safe. I am going to install reverse osmosis system so my wife can eleminate rising everything with bottled water. She says foods just taste better washed and cooked in clean water. Since I rarely cook who am I to complain. Its better to be safe then sorry.
 

dv8

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Sep 27, 2006
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i dunno. we live in POP and agua internacional is next door to miesposo's work. i have been inside the "factory" myself, very clean. we buy water directly from them, no middle man.
 

sayanora

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Feb 22, 2012
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I pay 50 pesos for 5 gallon bottle. 5 pesos is for delivery and I tip 20 pesos. 75 pesos. I probably spend 150 a week. I would not even think of drinking from the tap and my building puts cloro in the cistern.

The bottles cost 30 so you are paying 5 pesos for delivery and 40 pesos tip.. just so ya know :)
 

Criss Colon

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Jan 2, 2002
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I pay 20 pesos a bottle, and 5 pesos for delivery.
The guy comes to pick up my "Emptys" and brings back full bottles.
I have a "rack" like the colmados do, and I get 12 to 15 bottles at a time.
The water comes from the "factory".
We use about a "Botellon" a day.
Stop paying too much!
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
 

vida

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Mar 18, 2010
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The bottles cost 30 so you are paying 5 pesos for delivery and 40 pesos tip.. just so ya know :)

All colmados near my house charge 50 pesos plus 5 pesos for delivery. This is in Santo Domingo. I buy two at a time 110 pesos including delivery. I add a 40 pesos tip. If I go to a local water company I can buy them for 25 pesos but I prefer to have them delivered.
 

thomasj

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Mar 31, 2010
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You cannot get arsenic and heavy metals out of the tap water by boiling it. I don't think you can trust the bottled water either. What about the bisphenol A from the plastic? I use a large BPA free Britta jug and filter to filter the bottled water. It is still not perfect but a reasonable compromise.
 

AlterEgo

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Jan 9, 2009
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Wow, all these price differences. We only use Aqua Cristal and it's 50 pesos out in provincia San Cristobal.

I've only recently started brushing my teeth with it, after 35+ years of using tap water. My sister-in-law had our well water tested, and it passed everything with flying colors, but I still do not trust it.