Hello Mija,

If you search online, you can find/purchase testing kits for arsenic levels in water, or there are professional services that invite you to send water to a lab for more detailed testing.

For reference, the US Environmental Protection Agency sets a maximum contaminant level for arsenic in public water systems in the States at 10 parts per billion, (10 micrograms per liter μg/L) although some US States set the level lower than this.

A further search online offers advice for treatment/removal, e.g.
https://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+remove+arsenic+from+well+water

We just went through this with Indapura. Not as expensive though as what you say Bonafont charges. It’s 100 pesos a garrofon and 35 for water currently. Once you buy the garrafones, they are yours.
We ended up selling the garrafones at half price to a person that buys them for a living. Ahh, Mexico.

You would need to get the water professionally tested to be sure. However, it’s very difficult to get a license to drill a private well. The regulations on well-drilling are strict because the water authorities concern about drillers contaminating underground wells that provide water to others in the same area.

Hi Gary,

Thanks for sharing your comment based on your experience.

It’s true that in practice returning the bottles to get your ‘deposit’ back is tricky. Some retail stores will take back the bottles, but only if you present the original receipt.

Local water purifying companies charge less than the big companies for refills of the 20-liter bottle. They too make a ‘deposit’ charge for the bottle, that you might or might not be able to get back if you ever want to surrender the bottles.

The good news is that the ‘deposit’ (bottle purchase) fees are not huge, and if you can’t return them, the bottles can be repurposed in various ways if you stop using the bottle refill services, or gifted to others for use.

A water filtration system offers a lower price per liter longer term, and is also much more convenient, although the up-front installation costs are higher than the bottle deposit/purchase fees.

what businesses provide whole house water filtration systems? do you have any references?

I took two trips to San Jose del Cabo, and the whole family relied on water from Grayl filtered water. Nobody got sick either time, so it’ll be my go-to for water in Mexico

You are correct. We built a home in southern Mexico and have a whole house water filtration system that works perfectly. We had neighbors that bought the bottled water from the delivery services and white having drinks one evening they discovered worms in their drink. They thought they came from dirty ice cube trays. Well…they found more in their big blue bottle. To my knowledge, anyone can sell that water and who knows where it comes from???