Many people have heard that we cannot drink the water when we travel to Mexico, but did you know that Mexicans don't drink tap water either? Most people here only drink purified water from garrafónes which they need to fill up almost weekly or bi-weekly. A garrafón is a big jug like what you see at an office water cooler.
I have learned about the consumption of water in Mexico. Once I arrived, I found out that I had to buy my water from different filtration systems almost every week.
The vast majority of people around the country do not drink water from the tap. In most cities and towns, there is not a sufficient filtration system established to ensure the purification of the water, so people must buy garrafónes for water at their homes.
In order to drink water, people buy giant water containers (holding 20 liters) for their homes. To do this, families must originally purchase the water jug (which ranges in price from about 80 to 120 pesos). Once the jug runs out of water, families must take it to a refill station (there are tons of refill stations in every town and city throughout Mexico). It costs about 10 to 20 pesos to refill a garrafón.
