Water

Hi,
I take it that the tap water in metro Manila is not safe for drinking. Do most boil or buy the big bottled water with coolers?

My colleague advised me to buy a reverse osmosis water filter system when I am back in the states. Does anyone have any experience with water filter systems in the Philippines?

Thanks,
Don

Hi dhnindc,

It is recommended to buy "filtered" water. Generally establishments that sell filtered water are safe. They have to undergo routine checks from the authorities to ensure safety. My family has been drinking filtered water ever since and I haven't heard any untoward incidents about it.

Boiling tap water is still being practised by some households, but it costs more considering the amount of energy required. (Electricity, LPG tanks, etc.)

Cheers

Thanks.

Do you buy the big water cooler jugs (5 gallon) or the 1 gallon or liter bottles from the supermarket?  I dont want to be lugging water bottles home everyday.

Also, for soups, I take it I can use tap water?

I used to work in India and would always come down with some stomach ailment, not sure if it was tap water from brushing teeth, showers or just generally dustiness of the city.

My folks in Manila usually buy two to three 1-gallon ones because the water filling station is just around the corner. :-)

You can use tap water for soups. It will be boiled anyway.

Cheers

The water companies generally deliver and you can call them up. We have our water delivered monthly so just buy whatever you think you will need over a month or minimum charge whatever comes first.

It costs about P100 for 3 full large water containers.

Bottled water to drink in a new place is a wise precaution but for long term is not necessary. Our digestion systems will adapt to the tap water if given some time with small initial doses. Drank the tap water in Kenya for 3 years without problems whilst others in the company were using the bottles stuff. Keeping to bottled is difficult because the odd ice cube in a drink somewhere can bring you down. When the local people are dropping like flies then its time for bottled water!