For many travellers, one of the main health issues when travelling overseas is the quality of the drinking water. It has such a huge impact on a holiday, as it also affects food safety, what you need to pack, and the overall trip budget when taking into account buying bottled water, not to mention the environmental impact.
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One of the most common questions people ask about Costa Rica is whether you can drink tap water or need to drink bottled water during your trip. The good news is that drinking tap water is generally pretty safe when visiting Costa Rica, as the country has a better water filtration system than other countries in Latin America.
While traveling in Costa Rica it’s especially important to stay hydrated and drink a lot of water with the incredibly hot temperatures and tropical environments. This is why we love Costa Rica for its safe drinking water making it easier to stay hydrated, not waste single-use plastic bottles, and save money.
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Tap Water Quality in Costa Rica
It’s completely safe to drink tap water in the majority of Costa Rica. The Costa Rican government has worked closely with the National Water Institution, known as AyA, to establish extensive piped water infrastructure that reaches most of the country.
Most of the provinces and regions have a dedicated water purification plant, where water is disinfected by chlorination and purified using a reverse osmosis process. However, this means that the water in Costa Rica is considered “hard” water, as it has a higher concentration of minerals and chlorine. You might even notice a different mineral taste in the water than what you’ve had in other countries. If you have a sensitive stomach, the high concentration of minerals might still not sit well. But for most people, the tap water is perfectly fine.
Cities like San Jose have the best drinking water quality, which makes it quite safe to drink from the tap, eat raw fruits and vegetables, and order fresh fruit juices at a local restaurant. However, in some rural areas, water quality can be questionable.
This is usually confined to parts of the Caribbean Coast and remote places like the Osa Peninsula. These areas tend to rely more on wells or rainwater tanks, so you might want to check with your hotel how they filter the water source in these areas.
FAQs:
Can Americans drink water in Costa Rica?
The short answer is yes. The water in Costa Rica is safe for most people to drink. However, it may have more minerals and be a harder water than what some people are used to in America. This means that you might not like the taste of the mineral content in the water as it’s different from home.
Can I brush my teeth with tap water in Costa Rica?
Yes, the water purity in most places of Costa Rica is perfectly fine for brushing your teeth. This makes it quite convenient, so you don’t need to rely on drinking bottled water.
Can I drink tap water in San Jose?
San Jose has some of the safest Costa Rican water in the country. The infrastructure in the city means that the water is filtered multiple times and it’s safe to drink and consume.
Do locals drink tap water in Costa Rica?
Yes, Costa Ricans typically drink tap water in Costa Rica. Even in the rural areas where they rely on wells or a water tank, the locals tend to feel comfortable drinking their own water. This means you won’t see many people buying bottled water from grocery stores.
Water Filtration and Purification
While most of the local tap water on the Pacific Coast and inland is put through an extensive filtration and purification process, there are some more rural areas that rely on well water or rainwater. However, you’ll find that Costa Rica hotels in these areas like on the Osa Peninsula or Caribbean side will still offer tourists filtered water through their own purification systems.
However, if you’re concerned about the quality of the water or prefer to err on the side of caution, you can still ensure you have access to safe water with your own portable purification methods. Some of these options are outlined below:
Costa Rica Travel Tips: Water Filtration Options
If you’re interested in packing some sort of water filtration option on your vacation to be on the safe side, then here’s what we recommend for purifying more water.
LARQ Water Bottle
If you like carrying water bottles with you on day trips, then we highly recommend investing in a water bottle like LARQ that filters water instantly. These bottles have a UV-C LED located inside the cap that operates through the touch of a button, plus it also turns on automatically every 2 hours to clean the water you put inside. They also make a filter water bottle lid, which has a Nano Zero filter technology with zerovalent iron to filter the water as you drink.
Steripen
These rechargeable little devices clean water within seconds with their UV light. The UV light disrupts the DNA within bacteria, viruses and protozoa, rendering them harmless. The light is able to purify about a litre at a time and it can be used with any water bottle (but works best in non-transparent bottles).
Water Purification Tablets
Water purification tablets are relatively inexpensive and are just small pills that can be dropped into your water to ensure it’s purified. These tablets usually rely on chemicals like chlorine or iodine to clean the water, so you’ll still have a bit of a mineral taste to it.
Boiled Water
If you have a lot of patience and access to a stove at your accommodation, then you can boil water to help ensure it’s pure. Boiling is one of the surest methods to kill viruses, bacteria, and parasites. However, you need to make sure it’s brought to a boil for at least 1 minute to work effectively.
Eco-Friendly Considerations: Ditch the Bottled Water
With so many alternatives on the market now, we highly suggest ditching single-use bottled water on your travels. Plastic water bottles make up one of the largest contributors to plastic waste in the world, with around 85% of all plastic ending up in landfill or in the ocean without being properly recycled, according to the UN Environment Programme.
This means one of the best things we can do to be more responsible while travelling is to not buy single-use plastic bottles. Instead, pack reusable bottles to refill from the local tap water or opt for a personal purification system as we outlined above.
While Costa Rica is definitely taking steps forward with new laws in recent years to ban plastic bags and straws, it’s still estimated that more than 40 tons of plastic waste are not collected or captured by the collection and recycling systems in Costa Rica every day.
Let’s ditch bottled water together and make a dent in the global plastic problem.
Conclusion
The question of “Can you drink the water in Costa Rica?” comes up a lot amongst travellers in Central America. However, the good news is that the water in Costa Rica is perfectly safe to drink. We highly recommend drinking tap water in the country as this helps reduce plastic bottle waste, keeps you hydrated, and means you can indulge in fruit juice without the chance of getting sick!
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