Job Discussion Forums

[boomerexpat]

Well compared to Beijing it is clear skies all year. Just came across this and thought it would make all of you feel better. Apparently last Oct 9th the pollution index in that sunny city hit 500. Yep. Chinese gov called the weather slight pollution that day.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/11/01/world/asia/china-air/index.html

[amaranto]

I live in Mexico City and notice the ugliness of the ozone more than the pollution's actual effect on my body. So, for me it is not bad at all.

I had respiratory problems beginning about one month after I moved here, but I think they were due to a mix of not being used to the pollution and not being used to the germs I was encountering on a daily basis in public transportation. I hardly ever get sick now.

Like the others said, if you are sensitive, it might bother you. Otherwise, you'd probably be fine.

[Phil_K]

[Isla Guapa]

[Phil_K]

[DebMer]

A couple of decades ago a friend of mine who had lived in D.F. for about 10 years at that time went back to Canada to get a medical problem taken care of. Her doc in Canada wanted to know how long she'd been smoking. She had never been a smoker, of course - just a breather in D.F. I've read that the air is much improved since that time period, however.

[EFLeducator]

[boomerexpat]

I was just reading in a book on Mexico City about the writer having to endure constant water turn offs by the city: repairs, broken lines, whatever.

Usually they were for an hour with no notice but sometimes for days. His building didn't have a spare water tank to help them through those shut offs.

This was as of a few years ago. Anything changed?

[Guy Courchesne]

Is that Gary Denness' book by any chance?

In my current colonia, we've never had it cut off. Some years back, the city cut off the water to my area for 2 days to do some maintenance work over the easter break. I've not had it cut off anywhere else.

Some districts of the city have persistent problems, such as Iztapalapa in the south east.

Water pressure in Mexico City is low...many buildings and homes have both pumps and rooftop tanks to collect and store water so that during peak usage hours, the tanks feed you water. My building has both tanks and a pump and it's been good to serve water 24/7. If you're missing either though, you're at the mercy of the system.

[boomerexpat]

[doublethinker]

The pollution in Mexico City isn't THAT bad. I mean, it looks kind of gross, but I have asthma and I haven't had any extra problems here. My skin did break out like crazy when I first arrived, though, which apparently happens sometimes due to the pollution. It cleared up after a few months, thankfully.

As for the water, I've heard from friends that the Condesa is pretty bad for water. It's always being cut off for whatever reason.

However, I live in a different colonia and I've never had problems with that. I also live in a well-maintained apartment building that has it's own backup tanks.

[BadBeagleBad]

I think it depends on where you live. A couple of years ago it was a pretty sure bet that we wouldn't have water on Sunday afternoon for 5 or 6 hours. At some point that stopped happening and we haven't had any major outages except then tubes were broken a couple of times during the contruction of the new Metrobus line. We also have a water collection tank for one of the two apartments we own, so we have usually been OK. What I have noticed, though, is every time there is a temblor the water is unusable for a couple of days, for anything except the toilet.

[EFLeducator]

[EFLeducator]

[Guy Courchesne]