Please conserve water while you are here*
*or like actually, all the time.
Baja is surrounded by ocean, but short on fresh water and has been in a state of drought (like alta California) off and on for decades. We do not have municipal water; our tap water is purchased by the truckload to fill our pila, which is piped into the house. Our Main House lodgings all have water taps with pila water, and 5 gallon bottles of filtered water.
Pilas
March ’21: The (leaky) cement block construction at the top of this photo is our pila; a cistern that holds water that is piped into the house. Every house in La Mision uses pila water, so look for block & cement pilas on the hills, and plastic pila tanks on top of houses and buildings. Our pila leaks from a dozen places, so it’s recently been drained into the black plastic pila tank, below, temporarily. We’re sealing and repairing the old pila, then the temporary tank will be moved to another spot on the property and used as our gray water pila. By the time you visit, there will probably be a mini ramp where the black pila is in this photo.
Pila / Tap Water
Pila tap water is municipal water and has been treated, but bacteria often develops while it’s being stored, which can cause (painful and disgusting) gastrointestinal infections by the time it comes out the tap. Pila / tap water is not safe for humans or animals to drink.
Pila / tap water IS safe to:
- wash your face
- in your eyes and on body parts
- wash dishes, as long as they air dry completely. Don’t rinse a cup and then immediately pour something new in it. But you can wash dishes and after they’re 100% dry, they’re safe to use again.
- Internet sources agree that boiled tap water is safe, but not how long to boil it. So we use filtered water to make tea, coffee, ice and for all food/drink purposes.
Filtered Water
All the 5 gallon bottles in our house are filtered water, same as you’d get anywhere in the states. It is safe for all uses. While you are in Baja, please use filtered water for drinking, cooking and brushing your teeth.
Restaurants & Water Out & About
Tourist restaurants provide filtered water ice; local wisdom is to look for the hole in the cubes that indicates the ice is from a filtered ice provider. If you’re worried about it, beer is always safe!
+ Bathroom info
That’s the plus part of “Water+” – el baño.
Please flush nothing but human waste!
Mexican sewage pipes are 2″ wide and what that means is that nothing but human waste can be flushed – no TP, tampons, paper products of any kind or anything that didn’t come directly from your body. We have signs to remind you in all our baños, but if you forget, you must fish out the prohibited items. Please do not under any circumstances flush them. Please. We have provided back scratching forks next to the toilets for this purpose. Please don’t scratch your back with them.