This question came up on another thread which was too long and convoluted to continue, so I opened a new thread.
NO, quite frankly, Colombian water is not fit to drink all the time and in all parts of Colombia.
1. The water comes from the rivers. Go smell the rivers and look at the trash and dead stuff floating in there and you´ll get an answer to your question very quickly. Think Medellin is safe from it? Go down close to the Río Medellin and look and smell. You won´t like it I assure you. Sometimes even raw sewerage floaties.
2. When there is a drought the water sources shrink in volume thus concentrating the contaminants.
3. There are no Clean Water laws in Colombia. People indiscriminately dump everything in the street and the street drains go directly to the nearest creek or river. I´ve seen them pour paint and paint thinner, engine oil, dog crap, all kinds of pollutants running down the gutters when it rains hard, as it does pretty much every day for a few minutes, especially in the winter.
4. When you get up first thing in the morning and turn on the tap you can smell the water. Sometimes has a rotten egg or rusty iron odor, sometimes strong chemical odor like paint thinner, sometimes heavy doses of Chlorine. All are bad for your digestive system and all are carcinogens when mixed with other pollutants.
5. After a heavy rain you can pour the tap water through a paper coffee filter and watch the paper filter turn brown.
6. Water in the fincas is worse. Many finca houses have water barrels on the roof with stale water and all kinds of stuff floating in there. Many fincas also don´t have real septic systems. They just let run off flow to the nearest brook. Cattle, pigs, chickens are not fenced out of the water sources, fecal matter floaties everywhere.
7. A similar problem exists in many cities and towns in the US. Pollution is everywhere. Google water safety and read about thousands of American cities and towns that have contaminated water with hundreds of different chemical and organic pollutants.
The only solution is to filter your own water. When I´m traveling I carry a pitcher filter with me. At home I install a whole house filter under the kitchen sink, or at the very least a water filter on the faucet. Cost only a couple hundred pesos and takes an hour or so to install. Then change the filter regularly and as needed, especially after heavy rain.
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NO, quite frankly, Colombian water is not fit to drink all the time and in all parts of Colombia.
1. The water comes from the rivers. Go smell the rivers and look at the trash and dead stuff floating in there and you´ll get an answer to your question very quickly. Think Medellin is safe from it? Go down close to the Río Medellin and look and smell. You won´t like it I assure you. Sometimes even raw sewerage floaties.
2. When there is a drought the water sources shrink in volume thus concentrating the contaminants.
3. There are no Clean Water laws in Colombia. People indiscriminately dump everything in the street and the street drains go directly to the nearest creek or river. I´ve seen them pour paint and paint thinner, engine oil, dog crap, all kinds of pollutants running down the gutters when it rains hard, as it does pretty much every day for a few minutes, especially in the winter.
4. When you get up first thing in the morning and turn on the tap you can smell the water. Sometimes has a rotten egg or rusty iron odor, sometimes strong chemical odor like paint thinner, sometimes heavy doses of Chlorine. All are bad for your digestive system and all are carcinogens when mixed with other pollutants.
5. After a heavy rain you can pour the tap water through a paper coffee filter and watch the paper filter turn brown.
6. Water in the fincas is worse. Many finca houses have water barrels on the roof with stale water and all kinds of stuff floating in there. Many fincas also don´t have real septic systems. They just let run off flow to the nearest brook. Cattle, pigs, chickens are not fenced out of the water sources, fecal matter floaties everywhere.
7. A similar problem exists in many cities and towns in the US. Pollution is everywhere. Google water safety and read about thousands of American cities and towns that have contaminated water with hundreds of different chemical and organic pollutants.
The only solution is to filter your own water. When I´m traveling I carry a pitcher filter with me. At home I install a whole house filter under the kitchen sink, or at the very least a water filter on the faucet. Cost only a couple hundred pesos and takes an hour or so to install. Then change the filter regularly and as needed, especially after heavy rain.
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