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Why is the water in Mexico harmful to drink?

Many international travelers to Mexico are familiar with the term Montezuma's Revenge. Mexican legend says that as the Aztec culture was crumbling under the Spanish invaders, Montezuma, the Aztec emperor of that time, placed a curse to protect the indigenous Mexicans from future invaders. For today's travelers, this colloquial term refers to traveler's diarrhea (TD).

The Center for Disease and Control (CDC), states that TD is the clinical syndrome resulting from the microbiological contamination of ingested food or water. There are estimates that place this affliction to travelers at 40% of the total annual tourist population in Mexico. It is also estimated that 80% of these cases are caused by bacterial infection.

Bacteria exists everywhere, even in societies with highly developed sanitation and hygiene practices. So what makes the international traveler so susceptible to illness from the water and food in Mexico?

The answer is found in the Mexican water handling and transportation infrastructure. Due to the lack of revenue, many water treatment facilities in Mexico do not have the means to properly treat and recycle water. In many cases, the water transportation infrastructure is old and dilapidated. Frequently, the pipelines are leaking and suffer contamination by the soil due to nearby leaking sewers, septic tank discharges and overflow from drainage canals. The regular water system interruptions and daily scheduled low pressure periods, cause the transported tap water to rest for long periods of time. Many of the homes and smaller business use cisterns to keep reservoirs of water. These systems provide for the daily need and use of water during the low pressure periods. Many of these reservoirs are open ended and located on the roof tops. These various conditions provide a perfect environment for contaminations and breeding grounds for bacteria.

In many resort hotels and larger businesses, on-site water filtration systems are used. These better than average filtration systems do provide the traveler with a higher degree of protection against illness. However, it is always a better practice to drink water from a bottle, avoid consuming ice and uncooked foods that are cleaned using tap water, such as salads.

References:
Center for Disease and Control (CDC)
http://www2.ncid.cdc.gov/ travel/yb/utils/ybGet.asp?sect ion=dis&obj=travelers_diarrhea .htm&cssNav=browseoyb

Wikipedia.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M ontezuma's_Revenge

Learn more about this author, Bryce Capodieci.
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