Watch out for parasites!

[Pib]

Althought it is probably yuckier than Purissima^TM, I rely on a few drops of chlorine to wash vegetables. And yes, they have to be submerged in the water for a few minutes.

[Ken]

Chlorine (clorox, or cloro in Spanish) is great for washing vegetables. It isn't as concentrated as Purissima, but this is no problem in a home. Purissima is better for carrying with you when you go to hotels, restaurants, etc. Being so concentrated, you only need a drop or two for a glass of water and the bottle is small enough to carry in your purse or pocket.

Re clorox, my wife and I lived on a cruising sailboat for 16 years, spending nearly all of the time in the DR or the islands of the Caribbean. During the entire time, all the water we used on the boat was treated with clorox before putting in the tank. The ratio for clorox is a teaspoon for 5 gallons of water for drinking unclouded water. For washing vegetables, it would be greater than this.

There have been studies showing that clorox, etc., is more effective than boiling. Just bringing water to a boil isn't enough, it must boil for 20-30 minutes.

When we go to a hotel in Santo Domingo or elsewhere, we always carry a bottle of Purissima. When we eat in a restaurant we order the individual bottles of water, then carry the empties back to the hotel room. There we fill them with water from the faucet, put in about 3 drops of Purissima, and shake to mix. We then use this water for drinking in the room, brushing teeth, etc.

If you buy Purissima, when you remove the cap the first time you will find the opening is covered with an aluminum foil seal. Punch a small hole in the seal, using an ice pick, point of a ballpoint pen, or something similar. When you use the Purissima, squeeze the bottle to force the drops through the hole.

[andy a]

Thank you for the information, Ken - precise and descriptive - the kind that can be used.

A few additional questions:

Do the vegetables have to be soaked the entire 5 minutes or can they simply be doused and left unmolested for 5 minutes?

Does one also have to wait 5 minutes to use purissima-treated water?

Is pouring too much purissima into the drinking water a problem? Would using a medicine dropper be better?

Thanks again.

[Ken]

andy a, the vegetables have to be submerged for at least 5 minutes, then drained. When my wife takes them out of the water she puts them into one of those big dishes with many holes in the bottom, or in a big sieve, to let them drain. We are talking, now, about things like lettuce, broccoli, etc., that are eaten raw in salads, etc.

For potatoes, carrots, etc. that are cooked or peeled, she scrubs them with a vegetable brush in dishwater after finishing the dishes, then puts them into the refrig or the container we have for potatoes.

Before eating apples, pears, etc., I wash them good with soap and water.

Bananas we don't worry about because they have a thick skin that is removed before eating.

Water treated with purrisima for drinking can be drunk right away. Just be sure that it is well mixed. That's why, whenever possible, we fill bottles with water and put in the Purrisima, then give the bottle a good shaking.

To be truthful, when mixing in Purissima I often err on the side of a drop or two more, but I wouldn't consider putting a medicine dropper of the stuff in a small container. I've been using clorox and purissima in my drinking water for more than 16 years without apparent harm, but I think you could overdo and damage the stomach. Look what clorox will do if you spill a drop or two
on your clothes.

Speaking of that, if you are carrying an opened (meaning with a hole in the seal) bottle of Purissima with you outside of the hotel, I'd recommend protecting yourself from the possibility a little can leak out and damage your clothes. What we do is to find the smallest bottle we can that a small bottle of Purissima can fit in and put the Purissima in it when carrying it in suitcase from our home in Sosua to the hotel in Santo Domingo. You could do the same if carrying it in a backpack. Otherwise, I would put a small piece of plastic paper (tear a little off a shopping back, for example) and put this over the top before screwing on the lid.

Not having been the most cautious person when visiting, I have eaten from roadside stands, had many frio-frio's, etc. and with no ill effects. I contracted Giardia (sp) here in Toronto. Now that I know how disgusting it is I thank you for the Purrisima tip, and will grab some for my next visit, since after 10 visits, I am out of resorts more than in them......

[Jane J.]

Basically, you have 2 choices:

1) Buy bottled water

2) Treat water laced with fecal matter with two, tiny drops of bleach-like substance.

Why not just drink bottled? While the Purissima may work for you, KEN, after having been in the country for however many eons, others may be slightly more sensitive to the presence of excrement in their drinking water. Just my opinion.

[sjh]

bottled water is cheap, readily availible, and can be bought in 5 gallon containers...

If you would rather treat your drinking water with a known toxin, go ahead..

[Ken]

FYI, we put some Purissima in the 5 gallon bottles we use in our home. Foolish, hardly. The fact that water is in a bottle with a label on it is no guarantee it is pure. My wife picked up a very-hard-to-diagnose/very-hard-to-kill parasite about 10 years ago and after taking Flagyl and other drugs, all of which took a real toll from her system, we decided we would rather err on the side of caution.

Every so often in the US there is a big fuss made about the impurities found in commercialy prepared bottled water. I can recall not too many years ago when it was reported that the bottled water purchased by the White House had more impurities in it than the water that came out of the faucets.

There have been similar reports about the bottled water sold in the DR.

Something I have personal knowledge about. One of the UK tour companies that booked tours to Cayo Levantado hired inspectors from a lab in SD to test the food and water wherever the clients were likely to eat or drink, including the hotels. One day when they tested the water taken from a 5-gallon bottle used by food vendors on Cayo Levantado they found that the water was contaminated. The policy was to give the vendor another chance; but next time the inspectors tested the water (a new bottle) it was found to not meet standards. It was decided to make another test--of a new bottle--using different inspectors to be sure the motives of the inspectors were beyond suspicion. Every precaution was taken to insure no outside influence, but again water impure.

The water was tested in the plant filling the bottles and was found to be pure. So it was theorized that a small quantity of the solution used to clean the bottles was left in the bottle, and that this was the source of the impurities. Apparently this has been found to be the case in some other instances. However, in this case, when the source of the impurities was finally tracked down, it was found to be quite different. The colmado from which the Cayo Levantado food vendors bought the water did not have many customers for 5-gallon bottles of water. Consequently the bottles sat in his rack, in the sun, for a long period before being purchased and used. It was that long period in the intense heat of the sun that was apparently causing small impurities in the water to multiply, resulting in the water to going bad.

I am not saying don't buy and drink bottled water. I drink it myself when at a restaurant. But, remember, the fact that it is in a bottle is not a guarantee it is pure. And I am not just talking about water purchased in the DR.

With respect to the comment that it works for me because I have been drinking it for so long, I keep in mind that virtually all of the people on cruising sailboats in the Caribbean are drinking water treated with clorox. It is working for them, too, no matter how long they have been cruising.

Regarding the water Jane J has laced with excrement, I am sure that will come as news to many expatriates. As has been reported by others in previous posts, the problem isn't the water, it is the condition of the pipes. (And I don't think they meant that the pipes were coated with excrement.)

Finally, I am not mandating, Jane J, that people use Purissima. I offered it as a suggestion to those who thought it made sense for them. If no one decides to use it, that's fine with me. But if someone, like ms. matilda who started this thread, is using water from the faucet to brush their teeth, or who is visiting Dominican homes and drinking the water served there (which may come from the faucet), or who wants an extra measure of protection when they move around outside the confines of the resort, then I think they should at least be aware that there are alternatives to strapping one of shadley000's 5-gallon bottles on their back.

[Hlywud]

http://www.epa.gov/safewater/faq/emerg.html

Boiling: Vigorous boiling for one minute will kill any disease-causing microorganisms present in water. The flat taste of boiled water can be improved by pouring it back and forth from one container to another (called aeration), by allowing it to stand for a few hours, or by adding a small pinch of salt for each quart of water boiled.

Chemical treatment: When boiling is not practical, chemical disinfection should be used. The two chemicals commonly used are chlorine and iodine. Chlorine and iodine are somewhat effective in protecting against exposure to Giardia, but may not be effective in controlling Cryptosporidium. Therefore, use iodine or chlorine only to disinfect well water (as opposed to surface water sources such as rivers, lakes, and springs), because well water is unlikely to contain these disease causing organisms. Chlorine is generally more effective than iodine in controlling Giardia, and both disinfectants work much better in warmer water.

More information available at link.

[arroyodmb]

Lots of good advice about the water, but here is something that may seem unnescessary to mention.

Well that is until you visit an all-inclusive hotel, a restaurant or a bar and use a toilet. How many people do you see use the toilet and walk out without washing their hands?

In Britain they were stepping up public service information after a rise in problems of "food Poisoning". Wash your hands!

Also "when in Rome", how many times do you shake hands and look at some of the money that you handle during your stay here.

Hands are one of the main avenues for passing bacteria to food and person to person.

During 6 years of living here I take great precautions, I even got ill during my honeymoon in 1996 and most visits here before our marraige!!!