Drinking water from the tap might be a daily occurrence at home, but it’s not as normal as it seems in all parts of the world. You should watch out what you are drinking when you are traveling abroad.
Are you planning to go to Aruba, or are you currently in Aruba? And are you wondering if you can drink water from the tap in Aruba? Let me tell you all about it:
Short answer:
You can safely drink water from the tap in Aruba. It meets the highest standards of quality of the World Health Organization. Aruba doesn’t have any significant natural sources of freshwater, so they distill the water from the ocean.
How safe is the water in Aruba
The water in Aruba is very safe to drink. In fact, it’s one of the cleanest water systems in the world! Aruba has a huge drink water plant, which is one of the biggest in the world. It desalinates seawater using reverse osmosis.
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) health criteria for total dissolved solids is 600 parts per million (ppm). Aruba’s drinking water contains 5 to 15 ppm. This means that the water is 40 times clearer than the criteria of TDS in water supplies.
You might want to get ice cubes
There is one thing to keep in mind when drinking Aruba’s tap water though. The tap water in Aruba can be pretty hot. The island consists of rock, which makes it hard to dig water piping underground. A big part of the water system can be found above ground, where the sun can heat up the clean water.
This means that your clean water comes out of the tap at a relatively hot temperature. Make sure to get some ice cubes, or cool your water in the fridge!
My personal experience is that it’s best to put 3 bottles of water (per person) in the fridge every night before going to sleep. These bottles will be cool the next morning and keep you going all day.
Do I ever buy bottled water?
Yes, I do. The reason is the hot water I explained above. It’s hard to keep your water cool when you are going for a hike or a day at the beach. Are you planning to go on an adventure during the day? In those cases, you might want to buy bottled water, just for the purpose of it being cold.
Ok, it is safe. But how does the water taste?
Alright, you know the water is safe now. But what about the taste? Some countries add loads of chlorine to the water to make it safe, but the taste is absolutely awful.
Well, not in Aruba! Tapwater in Aruba tastes absolutely amazing! It feels like you are drinking water from a freshwater source. In fact, I like to believe that the water in Aruba tastes way better than it does in the United States.
As said before, the water is cleaned in a huge facility and comes straight from the sea. They don’t need to add a dozen chemicals to purify the water. It’s absolutely amazing!
I usually buy a sick-pack of bottled water when I arrive. Just because I need the bottles to cool the water overnight. Whenever a bottle is empty, I fill it up with tap water and I put it back into the fridge. You won’t even taste the difference, really!
Drinkwater plant in Aruba
The plant was inaugurated in 2000 and it was constructed in Germany and shiped to Aruba, it uses a process what is called PPFF or Pressed Plate Falling Film. It consists of heat titanium exchangers of considerable size that allow the flow of salt water and deliver a pure, drinkable product. The plant is half the size of a football field.
For over 70 years WATER- EN ENERGIEBEDRIJF ARUBA N.V. (WEB) has been in charge of power and water on the island and it has done a remarkable job. It has added over 250 million dollars in upgrading, developing new and efficient ways of producing water and power to the island. Because of these improvements, the quality of life and services available for its visitors and locals is high. This means that there will not be any shortage or rationing of basic services, making your stay as pleasant as possible.
There are tours available to visit the plant, you can call the local tourism authorities for more information. It is a great tour for technical incline individuals because there are not too many plants of this size in the world and being in Aruba could be a great opportunity during your stay on the island.
