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weird water in Punta del Este?

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pasebien
  1/24/2016 19:16 EST

We are in a "suburb" of P. del Este and our water is a weird color today. It smells normal, (I'm not wanting my family to taste it!)
it is ?beige?
Anyone else know of any water problems??

Morell
  1/24/2016 19:20 EST

Ours does that every so often here in Alantida. It usually corrects itself in a few hours.

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carlitos
  1/25/2016 05:14 EST

this is probably because OSE fixed some pipes on the street and when they do this they don't care if sand or dirt get into the pipes. Then the water changes the color for few hours then gets back to the normal translucent color.

bellcurvz
  1/25/2016 05:15 EST

the water in Montevideo is no longer drinkable so I suggest getting a water test kit and find out for yourself.

maxbjorkstrom
  1/25/2016 08:12 EST

I wouldn't drink the tap water in Maldonado after all the problems there has been with algae etc in Laguna del Sauce.

carlitos
  1/25/2016 08:17 EST

Water test kit? do you where we can get one of those? I'd love to be able to test my waters here.

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kimbo47
  1/25/2016 14:01 EST

They don't disinfect the pipes after repairs?

kimbo47
  1/25/2016 14:06 EST

Most companies who sell water purifying equipment will test for free if not you can buy in the internet for less than $20 for the cheap one's.

carlitos
  1/25/2016 14:19 EST

off course not, do they do that in Florida?

Morell
  1/25/2016 14:33 EST

"They don't disinfect the pipes after repairs?"


Sorry, that made me laugh!

kimbo47
  1/25/2016 15:27 EST

This is what is done in my town in Fl.:
When a main water pipe is repaired they send out a public not consume and boil water notice immediately via TV, radio and newspaper They flush the system via the fire hydrants and attached valves and then take daily samples and send to the lab.
The ban is not released for normal consumption till the lab reports come back as safe to consume. Usually this takes 2 to 3 days since the water already has a disinfectant.
Sorry this is funny but its a very serious matter for your health.

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Morell
  1/25/2016 16:52 EST

There was a break across the road from me some time ago, after a few hours the OSE folk came and fixed it and then drove away. Nothing about not drinking the water.

It is interesting that I have never had a problem with the water here but I got very sick in Spain on two different occasions years apart and ended up in hospital but most folk said the water there was fine.

maxbjorkstrom
  1/25/2016 16:56 EST

The pipes here are so old that they break constantly. However, when a new line is installed, from scratch they disinfect, after that they just patch... Do yourselves a favor and buy bottled...

kimbo47
  1/25/2016 17:25 EST

We all have different immune systems and are accustomed to the bacteria in our country. Same happens in Mexico everyone says water is OK but if you drink it you will normally get the Montezuma revenge. On the other hand they eat the jalapenos like grapes most of us would choke by the burning.

kimbo47
  1/25/2016 17:31 EST

Good advice! And for those of you that have filters just be advised that filters do not remove all the bacteria or contaminants as poisons, lead, mercury etc, Only the most expensive ones (over $100) will remove a large number of the most common bacteria and some will do lead and chlorine. They will have it printed on the surface of filter as well as the standards they meet, if any,

Wanderlustspirit
  1/25/2016 21:33 EST

The water in the department of Maldonado (this includes Punta Del Este, Punta Ballena, Maldonado & Tio Tom) is NOT SAFE to drink. There were chemicals used near the Lake (Laguna del Sauce) that ran into the lake & infested the water with bacteria after a serious rainstorm. I would look into Salus or Aqua A water delivery service. We prefer the Salus personally. It's 209 pesos for a 6 L bottle. There is a deposit if you are not exchanging a new bottle for an old one + the 22% IVA.

Additionally, the Montevideo water also has bacteria not reported. There are also pics of dirty water from other parts of the country & also small worms in the tap water (yes, really - I have seen the pics on FB). Anyhow, here's a link to the coverup on the problems with Montevideo's water. http://www.espectador.com/sociedad/316191/informe-ose-oculto-presencia-de-organismos-toxicos-en-agua

Personally not thrilled about the extra expense of buying bottled water but until enough people complain to OSE about the quality of the water - NOTHING will be done. We will not be drinking any water until we know that the problems have definitely been resolved. I do not expect that to occur for sometime given the toxic chemicals Uruguay is using near its water supply.

kimbo47
  1/25/2016 21:50 EST

You may want to check your bottled water because even here in the US they have found that some of the bottled water being sold is nothing more than tap water or in some cases worse.
I believe that in your conditions you could use a good filter like ever pure H300 (quick change cartridge meets ANSI and is independently certified) and then a distiller this way you will have excellent clean water (pure H2O no metals or minerals just pure water) and you have the total control.

pasebien
  1/25/2016 22:17 EST

thank you for the info - are the bottles that contain 6 L glass? my conflict with the bottled water is plastic.

texasmg
  1/26/2016 10:36 EST

Most water pipes installed in the world over the last 60 years are made of cast iron or steel, only in the last 20 years being installed now in plastic. Every single metal water pipe in the world also contains rust. I realize that most folks think the inside of these pipes are somehow clean and coated but they are not. With the use of Chlorine this scale is virtually harmless and unavoidable in the real world. It will remain on the pipe walls until something jars it off... usually additional taps being installed, hydrants being serviced or sometimes just the use of a hydrant causing high flows where there were none, can dislodge it and send rust particles and discolorization into the stream. Basically, just wait it out until it clears(hope you weren't doing any light colored laundry) and things will be fine again in a few days.
If this stuff creeps you out then go no further. Otherwise google "water main scale" and you should be able to see some pictures of what is actually down there and out of sight! Just remember, how good a drink of cool water from a babbling brook can be.......... even after it ran across all of those nasty rocks! And I am not even selling water filters!

Morell
  1/26/2016 10:58 EST

If you think OSE water is bad, you should see what comes out of the well in my garden. The water is really brown and we can only use it to water the garden.
It is about 40 feet deep. We tried a filter but there is so much iron in it the filters we found plugged up every few minutes.

carlitos
  1/26/2016 18:21 EST

In Atlantida area there one can get delivered good water 20l for 204 and as a premium same folks also deliver a beer called Bremen that for my taste is the best national beer for 54 per L. I can get their info if anyone is interested.

proger1989
  1/26/2016 19:42 EST

in what departments in uyu the tap water are safe to drink?

Wanderlustspirit
  1/27/2016 12:16 EST

Carlitos - The hubby & I would LOVE the beer delivery information if Bremen beer is also delivered in the Maldonado area. Sounds like a great service! ;+)

pasebien
  1/27/2016 12:57 EST

Carlitos:
does the delivered water come in glass bottles or plastic?
thanks

scumbuster
  1/27/2016 13:22 EST

texasmg... Good reply. I have been doing water treatment all my life. First 30 years municipal then the last 8 for private industry. If you smell chlorine its safe to drink as far as bacteria goes. Normally after fixing a line break they just leave the downstream end isolated and flush to a fire hydrant down stream. The chlorine kills any bacteria introduced into the system and the dirt that may have entered is flushed out the hydrant. Boil warnings are more serious and it would have to be a really major break to need a boil warning. That or a malfunction of the chlorination system. Your nose can detect chlorine, depending in your sniffing sensitivity of between 1 and 1.5 PPM. If you can smell chlorine it should be bacteria free.

Wanderlustspirit
  1/27/2016 14:53 EST

The Intendencia will test your water at a price. I forget the exact cost. However since this is a government agency, we were not surprised to find that they felt our well water had bacteria but the OSE water was "safe" (October 2015). I think we should have labeled the containers "well 1" & "well 2" so they would not have known that one was OSE to see if the results were the same.

Wanderlustspirit
  1/31/2016 01:07 EST

Pasebien - Both the Aqua A & Salus (6 L bottles) are delivered in plastic bottles that fit into a water cooler. Unfortunately, there is no option for glass bottles with either company that I am aware of.

kimbo47
  1/31/2016 12:32 EST

Make sure the plastic bottles are free of BPA's and phthalates. Nasty stuff!

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