Is the water in Mexico safe to drink if I boil it?

[Rambo]

Hoping you scientists and frequent travelers might be able to help me out on this because I cannot for the life of me pin down a concrete answer. Every other page on the internet has different information. Many say that boiling WILL kill all the bacteria, but others say that still other contaminants are still prevalent (arsenic, other ****). Some say boiling for only a minute is enough, others say it has to be for a defined period of time like 15-30 minutes (never the same answer twice). I've been boiling water to make my coffee and I'm getting a little paranoid that the recent bird flu like illness I've been fighting was from something in the water. I could use bottled but I already drink a metric ton of bottled water as it is and have been trying to cut back on my expenses.

 

[scarphe]

it certain areas it is safe to drink from the tap, at least I and my cotnacts do it without any thing happening.

where are you in mexico? mexico or or another part?

 

[b1os]

>158°F and influenza won't harm you anymore (just checked, I'm really not that clever). I think you should be fine when you cook it for a couple minutes (also depending on the altitude [edit: just checked, German wiki says one minute longer per 150m]). There are some bacteria that won't get affected by boiling water, but they're rarely very dangerous, IIRC. I would ask a local what they do and if they say they drink it, just boil it for a couple minutes.

Of course, you won't remove any "heavy metal" by boiling. You could get a water filter for that, but I'm not sure whether there are very compact ones.

 

[Joffrey]

When I lived in Nigeria we'd boil then filter our drinking water.

 

[CalTex]

It might be more economical for you to buy the big 5 gallon (or whatever size) instead of individual bottles.

When we travel we stick to bottled water or pellegrino.

Does anyone use one of those expensive high tech travel size water purifiers.

 

[acidboy]

brah- remember that what is fine for the locals may not be fine for you... some friends/family who come over here, no matter how clean and safe the water and food are, still manage to get down with something like intestinal flu. as one suggested above, best boil and purify the water. and remember not to drink the water they serve you in restaurants unless it came from a sealed bottle.