Dear Boquete friends,
I am also concerned with the contaminated water situation.
My background is in microbiology and immunology. I worked in the area of researching infectious diseases as well as managing the laboratories that I worked in for over 15 years. I also taught microbiology at the universities where I worked. I have hands on experience using and selling Reverse Osmosis systems for water purification and using Ultra-violet systems for disinfection.
Unfortunately with the coliform load currently in the water, a reverse osmosis system will be overwhelmed and may allow microbes through or fragments of the microbes, which can also make an individual sick.
Ultra-violet systems offer no protection against parasites, especially their eggs. With the current coliform load in the water, again, UV systems may be overwhelmed.
We know that the local government is not known for moving quickly to solve problems. And I think this situation with the water will be another example of this.
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So in the interim, the best protection for an individual is to take your filtered or UV irradiated water and add an extra step:
Boil your water on the stove in a pot (with the lid on) for a minimum of 20 minutes. The 20 minute countdown starts when the water starts to boil.
For 1 gallon (or about 4 liters) of water - minimum boiling time is 20 minutes.
If your pot is holds more than 1 gallon (or 4 liters) of water, for every extra 1 liter of water, add another 10 minutes to the boiling time.
Allow this water to cool and use this water for drinking, food preparation, cleaning your teeth - basically use this boiled water for anything that goes into your mouth. I would even go to the extent of using this water to wash your hands.
The amount time for boiling is extremely important. The boiling step will kill parasites and their eggs and it will also destroy the proteins in the microbe fragments that make you sick.
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If you are already having stomach upsets (but do not have diarrhea), you may want to consider doing something about this……
- see your doctor and have him prescribe something for you - make sure you explain to the doctor where you live and that there is a contamination problem; or
- I personally use colloidal silver as an alternative to an anti-biotic, anti-viral or anti-fungal pharmaceutical. If this indicates to you, take the colloidal silver on an empty stomach - do not have it with food as stomach acid changes the structure of the silver and makes it less effective.
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I hope this information is helpful.
Best regards,
Carmel George
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Replies
Hopefully some good will come out of this discussion as people get more eduacted. Even though I had a UV light something seemed amiss and I started testing my water about 6 months ago and found fecal coliform in the water. We thought it was because the 5 gpm light was being overwhelmed if too many appliances/faucets were on at the same time, so we upgraded to a 12 gpm light. Retested and there was still fecal coliform showing up in the test. This was disheartening and made me realize there are NO water quality experts doing installations in Boquete so I needed to take charge of my water. Like most people here who have a UV light, I thought that was the end of the discussion but it is not.
I added a Doulton, whole house, ceramic filter system (.9 micron) in addition to the UV light and still had the same problem. The vendor replaced the ceramic filters at no charge and for the first time I have 0 fecal coliform in my water. I'm convinced that it takes layers of purification, just like home security must be accomplished in layers. I'm also now dumping clorox into our holding tanks and have a large charcoal filter to remove the bleach before it enters the house. I'm seriously considering a bleach dispenser that puts a metered amount of bleach into the water as it enters the tanks.
Bottom line, no matter what system you have, TEST your water regularly.
I started pills today, 3 days left. My stomach issue may be from salad I ate out, as I am the only one in the family that has it. Though we started boiling also. Was thinking of a 3 or 5 based filter system, charcoal ect. Your thoughts?
Water needs to be up to drinking water standards, that is an important issue for sure.
Thanks for sharing.
Given that there are multiple water system in the Boquete area, can you provide the data and the locations of the water tests that prompt an indiscriminate warning about the need to boil water?
For anyone who is boiling their water for safety reasons, if you are using a standard 'boiling time' requirement (which are usually given for sea level), you should probably be adjusting for the altitude at which you live.