The ceramic filter (inlaid with colloidal silver) costs 400 pesos ($35) and is retro-fitted into the mouth of a 19-liter (5-gallon) polycarbonate water jug that rests upside-down on a water crock dispenser base, to which a plastic spigot is attached.
We've been using this simple type of water dispensing system--minus the filtration unit--for nearly all our home drinking needs since moving to Mexico. When empty, each jug is replaced with a fresh hygienically-sealed prefilled one.
A fresh jug costs about 27 pesos ($2) at the local Mega Supermercado, plus a one-time deposit fee. Responding to consumer demand, home-delivery services abound, just like in the States. My wife, two dogs, three cats, and I go through about one jug of water a week. Of course, larger families require more jugs.
Like many expatriate households here in Mexico, we're willing to pay a "premium" for branded jugs that are refilled by companies owned by multinational corporations like PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, and Danone. But in working-class neighborhoods, local entrepreneurs meet residents' demands with jugs at a fraction of the price, but filled with water of dubious provenance.
Two dollars a week isn't a lot to spend to avoid a possibly incapacitating gastrointestinal illness or an even worse malady. But since arriving in Mexico ten months ago I have been trying to find a more sustainable, eco-friendly solution for our drinking water needs. Hence, my excitement at discovering the jug-and-ceramic filter combination available from a local nonprofit organization at our town's weekly organic market.
Dylan, a rural development expert who sold me the jug-and-filter contrivance, promised that it would remove all bacterial, viral, and fungal contaminants found in the water coming from our city taps (some of these culprits cause what we gringos call "Montezuma's revenge").
In fact, we're lucky to have only these particular contaminants to contend with. In some outlying campos (rural villages), the ground water also comes laced with heavy metals such as arsenic and fluoride.
These elements occur naturally in the earth's lower stratum where wells have to be drilled nowadays due to depleted aquifers. Even trace amounts rot teeth, bones, and brains, and we're talking about the teeth, bones, and brains of adults and children living in countless rural locations. Polluted rivers are another popular source of drinking water for the country's poor.
Plastic jugs filled with fresh, clean water are unavailable in these isolated locations. And although there may be tanker truck deliveries of what's considered acceptable water, these occur on an erratic schedule.
It's not a great situation. While the Mexican government has been taking baby steps trying to provide safe, potable drinking water to the public, NGOs and numerous nonprofits--largely funded by generous norteamericanos--appear to be making important advances in addressing the crisis.
For example, the Rotary Club of San Miguel de Allende, of which I am a member, has focused on practical, low-cost solutions for rural areas lacking safe drinking water.
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| Rural Cistern Funded by San Miguel Rotary Club |
Recently, the microscopic village of Pena Blanca, located 45 kilometers west of San Miguel, was the scene of a unique festivity. The villagers celebrated the construction of 19 cement rainwater catchment cisterns in their isolated locality.
Fed by rainwater collected from the roofs of local dwellings, these cisterns can provide clean drinking water for each household for as long as a year.
This project is only one of many that our local Club supports--with funding from some U.S. Rotary Clubs, our Club members' guidance and sweat equity, and most notably, of course, through the local villagers' commitment and labor. The regional water company and key Mexico-based grassroots organizations have been big supporters of the project, too.
Such highly cooperative initiatives clearly are moving things in the right direction for campos like Pena Blanca. But it's a big world out there.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), contaminated drinking water is one of the leading causes of preventable deaths, worldwide. In fact, over 2 million deaths occur each year from water-related diarrhea alone, caused by pathogen contamination in the drinking water.
So, how much thought did I give to the world's drinking water crisis when I was living in the States, before moving to Mexico? I'll let you guess the answer.
Maybe my new home water filter is just a budgetary measure to save my wife and me a few bucks every month. Or maybe, just like the innovative projects spearheaded by expatriates and supported by local agencies to help out the Mexican people, it reflects a new way of thinking about the world.
© 2014 Tony DeCrosta
Contact me at adecrosta@gmail.com
I first really thought about water two summers ago when we acquired a place with a well. Even though we had the well tested, I have felt better using a filtered pitcher for the drinking water (or having a Magner's Cider). I cannot imagine not having safe water to drink, although I know many do not.
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