# Merida Don't drink the water



## mr g53 (Jun 19, 2017)

Thinking of moving to Merida. Years ago everyone knew not to drink the water or else"Montezumas Revenge" Does this still apply today?


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

mr g53 said:


> Thinking of moving to Merida. Years ago everyone knew not to drink the water or else"Montezumas Revenge" Does this still apply today?


Most people do not drink tap water in Mexico. You buy drinking water in 20 liter (5 gallon) refillable garafons and either get them refilled or exchange them for full ones.


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## Zorro2017 (Jan 9, 2017)

You will develop an immunity eventually and stop at the side of the road for food with no ill effects. Americans pamper their immune systems too much I think and therefore are more prone to these types of illnesses.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

Zorro2017 said:


> You will develop an immunity eventually and stop at the side of the road for food with no ill effects. Americans pamper their immune systems too much I think and therefore are more prone to these types of illnesses.


I agree that most people develop a resistance and don't have problems after the first year or so here. However, I have only met one person who drank tap water. Mexicans and foreigners all drink bottled water. 

I was told by someone who works for CONAGUA that the tap water is potable when it leaves the water purification plant but the distribution pipes are old and leaky. Since the pressure is low, ground water can leak into the pipes as well as water leaking out of them.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

Sorry Everyone can get sick in including indigenous. Although it is true that your system gets used to the local water you do not get immunute to parasite, everyone can get parasites and there is no immunity against those guys. Everyone can get e-coli or salmonella .. typhoid and para typhoid is common..

I have lived in Mexico 17 years 17 in Jalisco and 10 in Chiapas where i often stay in indigenous communities and I get sick every year around April when the wind blows and it gets warmer. All locals get sick too and they blame the heat...This year I had 3 friends who came to visit around that time, they all got sick with salmonella, one stayed in a hotel where there was a group of 30 people and many got sick at one time or another..

Some people do not get sick easily and some do not easily but everyone gets sick eventually if the bugs are strong enough. Many of my indigenous friends get sick take some teas and live with it.. It either go away by itself or they get worst , this last year many of them had typhoid... Over the years we got typhoid, amoebas, e.colo and brucellosis from non pasteurized products,,,

This said I got sick when I moved to the States , just because the bugs are different, nothing serious and as someone says you get used to some of the local bugs..

At home we desinfect fruit and veggies we eat raw and many of my Mexican friends do as well..some do not...

None of my indigenous friends desinfect anything... many of them live with parasites ..when they get bad enough they see a doctors get debugged and start the cycle again

Dengue, zika and chinkingunya are endemic in some parts of southern Mexico so protect yourself from bugs..Not only the south for some of these bugs, my husband got dengue in Ajijic last year and many of my neighbors got it too.


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

TundraGreen said:


> I agree that most people develop a resistance and don't have problems after the first year or so here. However, I have only met one person who drank tap water. Mexicans and foreigners all drink bottled water.
> 
> I was told by someone who works for CONAGUA that the tap water is potable when it leaves the water purification plant but the distribution pipes are old and leaky. Since the pressure is low, ground water can leak into the pipes as well as water leaking out of them.


I believe it is like this in most "don't drink the water" countries. Thailand is another example. In college I had a friend from Thailand who got a PhD in wastewater treatment (on a Thai government scholarship with subsequent indentured servitude back home). He said the same thing about Thailand's water. The only difference is he expressed the problem as leaky distribution pipes combined with leaky sewer pipes and cross contamination between them.

I got sick once during my first apartment finding trip, after being in the country about a week, but since then no problems. It's a good reason not to let yourself get too close to any deadline with INM or anything else official like that. Always keep a few spare days in your schedule just in case.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

In Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca where I stay a lot, I drink the tap and have never gotten sick there..Nothing is desinfected and I never got sick either it all depends on the water delivery system and the cleanliness of the people who prepare the food.. usually the water starts out clean but the distribution system is contaminated..

I eat in stalls at markets as well and I do not hink I ever got sick from there either.. the truth is that many times I got sick was from food from restaurants with low volume..


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## Zorro2017 (Jan 9, 2017)

We have a well and drink the water, brush our teeth and use it on and in everything. On the road I eat at BBQ stands thrown up in front of a hut with no problems. Some people have a more delicate digestive system than others and my day may come but I don't think twice about it any more.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

I think that is is a question of luck and also what you eat.. bbQ would not make you sick.. I eat tons of pollo de rancho. bbq de res, moles and never got sick on those, the salsas are more iffies and the raw stuff..
If your well is clean you are better off than people living in the cities at the mercy of the distribution system..


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## circle110 (Jul 20, 2009)

I was told that in many places they run the sewage pipes right next to the water pipes in the ground. Over time both sets crack and seepage creates problems in the water supply. You can always gamble that that isn't the case between your place of residence and the main water source, but I choose to play it safe.


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

circle110 said:


> I was told that in many places they run the sewage pipes right next to the water pipes in the ground. Over time both sets crack and seepage creates problems in the water supply. You can always gamble that that isn't the case between your place of residence and the main water source, but I choose to play it safe.


That is common practice in most cities, worldwide. Water pipes are under pressure, and sewer lines are not. So, in normal circumstances, no sewage can enter the water lines; until they are shut down for repairs, which involves notice to the communities to be effected, and warnings to boil water for a few days after service is restored. That usually works. However, in Turkey some 56 years ago, I returned home from working a remote site for a week, as usual, only to find my wife & kids and the maid away from the house; an unusual circumstance caused by the unusual opportunity to hitch a ride home by helicopter, instead of the usual long bus ride. So, I filled up a large pitcher with cold water and went to work on the new lawn we were installing. The next six weeks of dysentery were very painful and cost me 25 pounds that I did not need to lose in that manner. It can happen.


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## horseshoe846 (Feb 8, 2017)

TundraGreen said:


> Most people do not drink tap water in Mexico. You buy drinking water in 20 liter (5 gallon) refillable garafons and either get them refilled or exchange them for full ones.


We have three separate filters on our well water lines; one at the street, one at the tinaco and another under the kitchen sink. We also have a rather affordable RO (reverse osmosis) system at the kitchen sink from which we draw all our drinking water. (So in a sense we drink from the tap  ) I change the (5) filters for the RO system once a year. I change the other filters as needed. Every couple months we toss a cup or so of chlorine into the tinaco. We clean the tinaco every new year.


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## GARYJ65 (Feb 9, 2013)

mr g53 said:


> Thinking of moving to Merida. Years ago everyone knew not to drink the water or else"Montezumas Revenge" Does this still apply today?


Diahrrea happens whenever you drink or eat contaminated liquids or food.
You may buy bottled water or install a decent filtering system 
In Merida you should also think about a water softener 
Yucatan has very hard water and you may end up with kidney stones


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## surabi (Jan 1, 2017)

Zorro2017 said:


> You will develop an immunity eventually and stop at the side of the road for food with no ill effects. Americans pamper their immune systems too much I think and therefore are more prone to these types of illnesses.


This is completely false. Citlali addressed this as well. No one is "immune" from parasites. Mexicans are not immune, this is a ****** idea. My worker told me they are definitely not immune, that his family is given anti-parasite medicine routinely every 6 months by their doctor.

Many people's stomachs need to get used to the food in a foreign country, then they have no problem. Some people are more sensitive than others. Water is a different story.


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

The closest thing to the cash register at the neighborhood farmacia is Vermox. Just ask.


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