I can't imagine living here and using bottled water to brush my teeth! Do many people here seriously do that?
- Thread starter Luperon
- Start date
Santiago tap water in drip coffee maker, safe?
I can't imagine living here and using bottled water to brush my teeth! Do many people here seriously do that?
Harley, for the first 33 years that I brushed my teeth in DR, I used tap water. Then I joined DR1. They scared the crap out of me with their horror stories, and so I bought a mini water crock for our bathroom. I fill it from the big bottellon, probably holds a gallon or so.
It looks similar to this one: Eagle Soar Porcelain Water Dispenser Crock Mini Set 707 | eBay
Amazing how dangerously I lived from 1975 until 2009
Ok I seriously don't like not being able to like mods posts!! Not sure I can deal with this change!!!
Hmm the wife does have problems with parasites from time to time, just assumed it was some place we ate!
Hmm the wife does have problems with parasites from time to time, just assumed it was some place we ate!
I have never used tap water to brush my teeth. Only been here full time since 2003. On the north coast, the tap water comes from the river and you must realize by now for what the population uses the river.
Probably not. But it also depends on how it was made. I drank my mother-in-law's coffee for 4 decades, she used tap water, BUT she boiled the devil out of it. She had two of those handled tin cups [always remind me of what the blind beggars wave around], and one of them was on the stove boiling away with the sugar already added to the water. Then she later added the coffee to the water/sugar mix, and boiled some more. Then she poured the whole mixture through a contraption that held a fabric filter that looks like a long sock [the 2nd tin cup under the sock]. She did that at least two times, switching the tin cups from pouring to catching.
Nothing would live through all of that.
I have been using bottled water as long as I can remember to brush my teeth. We have a "special" container I fill daily just for this. It might sound silly to some but what can I say. I am pretty careful when it comes to the water here. However I have been known to have a beverage with ice (most of the time I tell them hold the ice but there are times I have forgot) and have lived to tell. So who knows....
I don't actually think that brushing teeth is a big issue as one would not usually swallow the water anyway and I always make sure that I spit lots lol. Making coffee is very different and I always use bottled water for that as I also have a drip coffee maker so the water never gets to boiling temperature.
Raising the temperature of food or beverage over 165 degress will kill everything. Holding the item over 140 degrees or under 40 degrees will keep it safe. The coffee produced by a commercial brewer should temp at 190. Home brewers are not as reliable, but still probably reach safe temperatures. I use bottled water for my coffee, simply for taste reasons.
We all get exposed to the local water no matter how careful we are. In my household, we too have dispensers in each bathroom for bottled water for brushing our teeth and rinsing toothbrushes. We also have a UV light toothbrush sterilizer.
However, we wash our dishes in the sink with tap water.
We regularly administer anti parasite medication to our dogs, and it's not a bad idea to consult a Doctor and purchase the human equivalent to be taken every three or four months. 1 in 4 will get a parasite every year. The majority of these infections will not have outward symptoms for quite some time. The longer you are here or travelling in the underdeveloped world, the greater your exposure and subsequent risk. They are in the meat, the water, on vegetables, on the grass and just about everywhere else you can think of that hasn't been sterilized before putting it in your mouth.
However, we wash our dishes in the sink with tap water.
We regularly administer anti parasite medication to our dogs, and it's not a bad idea to consult a Doctor and purchase the human equivalent to be taken every three or four months. 1 in 4 will get a parasite every year. The majority of these infections will not have outward symptoms for quite some time. The longer you are here or travelling in the underdeveloped world, the greater your exposure and subsequent risk. They are in the meat, the water, on vegetables, on the grass and just about everywhere else you can think of that hasn't been sterilized before putting it in your mouth.
I disagree with this. Dominicans of all classes are pretty sensitive when it comes to the water. They will either use bottled water or boil the crap out of it, but I believe they will use bottled water. That is why you can get 5 gallons for 30 pesos. As illogical as Dominicans can be, they do get that becoming violently ill and potentially dying is not a good thing. It is usually the foreigners that end up doing stupid things with the water, just because of what they are used to back home.
Yeah right........ lots of campisinos collect rain water, agua de dios ( more or less nothing wrong there, with a stress on the more or less ), to drink of course....... the scary part is often they collect under those iron roofs ( mmmh, who can say rust and bird droppings..... ). And 8f course they also burn rubbish ( ie plastic and other )..... but do they realise the ashes deposit themselves on roof tops ??
We have done the test to show some in-laws. Boil the water a long long time, till dry, and check the deposit at the bottom of the pan.
Also, a minority, to save on agua de botellon ( 35-40 pesos ), actually use river water for food and drink.......
Welcome to the campo !!!!!!!
On a side note, agua de botellon, is more or less deminieralised watrer ( read the sticker ), which is not bad for u, but not very good either.
Also I can imagine some bottle processing plants are perfect, but others less...... so..........
Not to mention the Agua trucks who make their way through the campo, and the campesinos run out with all sorts of containers to buy it. I can only imagine the quality of that water. I think it's 15-20 pesos for 5 gallons.
But a carbon block filter or a terracotta filter does.. Cheap too. One other thing.. Water has to be pretty contaminated to cause ill effects to humans. It is pretty forgiving. For instance, most water even chlorinated contains some forms of coliform bacteria. Mostly in the form of simple dirt (non-coliforms) or biofilms from pipes. Even the pipes in your home grow bio-film, but you never get sick from these bacterium. Water is a necessity for life and is why (in my opinion) it is very forgiving.