Rather than drag a Brita pitcher or try to fit a tap version, just buy gallon jugs of filtered water from the grocery store. The price is less than $1.50 gallon and certainly more user friendly than the Brita option.

Some villas have filtered water, either on the refrigerator or the kitchen sink. Check with your agent. I'm with Chris@Work, there are more important things to pack (money, money, money).

Chris- this may be a dumb question but where does the gallon jug water come from? I thought this was a great idea rather than buy expensive bottle by the 20 ounce size or whatever but hubbie was skeptical- is this pristine, sterilized water like we buy here in the states or is is locally filtered water that may (?) require some trust in the filter-person?

Maybe its because I don't worry so much about these things. Common sense prevailing or maybe just damn the torpedos, full speed ahead mentality. Yes, I've been tagged with Montezuma's Revenge in MX so I haven't experienced "vive la vida loca" totally unscathed. But, I drink the water at our house @ Water Island that comes from the Cistern through various filters and is also treated. We also have a Brita-like "machine" in the kitchen area for guests who are welcome and encouraged to use it if it makes them feel better or who might have a gentler "consitution" than I. I also buy/drink the bottled water (gallon or individual bottles) that we purchase from Pueblo or Gourmet Gallery. It tastes good......strange as it is that different water can and does have different "tastes". I say, whatever you need to feel comfortable, safe and carefree on your vacaation - bring it, buy it, do it.

Sparks,

Most of the better homes/villas have very sophisticated and expensive water purification systems on them. The system can be found down under the home, between the cistern and the water lines coming up into the house. That being said, if these things can't clean the water, your Brita sure won't. The Britas found in the homes are probably more for "mental comfort" of the guests than anything else. If you happen to be staying in a home that doesn't have the really sophisticated system (on nicer villas, I would doubt they won't have one), I seriously wouldn't think the Brita would make a dent in the water purity. Thus, in either event, the Brita isn't going to help much.

Find out what kind of purification system your villa has. If it's a good one (I would be happy to give you info on your system's power to purify if you give me the model), then drink the water from the tap. If not, buy gallons of water.

I have found that I can usually taste and smell a "sulphur" taint to the water when I first arrive at a home (first day) and it gets better after that. This is especially true if the home has been sitting empty for a while....but even a week or so will cause my tastebuds to frown. So, it might be a safe bet to have bottled water ready when you arrive, even if you plan to drink the water.

If you're REALLY concerned about water quality, you can handle this in two ways. when I'm backpacking, I'll either bring along a small bottle of "Polar Pure" or a filter. They kill all the germs and viruses but water treated with Polar Pure DOES have a slight iodine aftertaste. Some people have a problem with that,it doesn't bother me. A new product that supposedly has no aftertaste is "aqua mira". It's slightly more expensive, and I've not tried it because I kinda LIKE "polar pure"! The other option is a backpacking filter, like a "Pur" or a "katadyn". Any good outdoor supply store will have a good selection of models to choose from, or you can buy online at www.campmor.com or www.cabelas.com

HI Chris, I think you'll miss this otherwise- the gallon jugs of water are filtered where? I think this is a great idea but hubbie Chuck wonders if its really filtered- is it jug water like we buy in our pristine mainland stores or filtered locally? It seems like such a great $$ deal rather than the individual $$$$ bottles, particularly for those of us NOT staying in villas. Thanks!

Hello Karrieb,

🙁 What are you asking?? Our locally bottled drinking water not good enough for ya. I am only teasing ;). I've bought and drank the locally bottled water by the gallon and 5 gallon jugs for years and years.

The bottled water sold in grocery stores in the Virgin Islands; some are local brands and others aren't. If you really want to get a stateside brand of drinking water than you can head to say Cost U Less and buy a case of the individual waters... rather than buying one bottle here and there. Since I buy the local brand of drinking water by the gallon, I've never paid much attention to whether other non-local brands by the gallon were available.

You could always drink RUM. 😛

--Islander

Rum- to mix with my instant oatmeal? - well I don't know about that....anyway, to clarify- hubbie's company works very closely with the bottled water industry all over the world, Coke, Pepsi, Nestles, all those guys so he sees water bottled daily,its part of our lives, bigtime, so when I mentioned the jugs as opposed to buying mucho-expensive single bottles, he had to know from whence it came!
Maybe I'll convince him to take a shot at it once we get there in Nov. We're big water drinkers (before Noon anyway) particularly with the hikes I have in mind for this trip.
In the meantime, I'll give my Quaker a "rum" for the money- get it??? HAHAHAHA

Can anyone tell me how much a gallon costs on STJ? For $17 I found a Brita-like water pitcher made by Pur that filters everything including microrganisms.

Keep in mind that water filters do not necessarily always remove microbes, so if anyone has a sensitive stomach or constitution, I recommend bottled water.

Also, even in the hale and hearty, there is the possibility that you will meet a strain of flora to which you've never developed an immune response - resulting in a damper on your vacation.

But, I do agree, most villas will have water purification systems already in. If in doubt, ask your booking agent or the island manager when you arrive.

Hello karrieb,

Hmmmm Rum & Oatmeal, you'll have to tell me how that works out. 😀

Ok as you stated you guys are bigtime into the water bottling process I e-mailed a friend that worked for the Dept. Of Planning & Natural Resources here on STT in their water testing area. Here is the response:

"Bottled water is checked weekly. Processing and water quality, for the most part good. I don't remember any major problems. Weekly test of the water coming out of the machinery at different points in the process and the bottled product."

Hope that helps.

--Islander

ok again, now, I'm a quality assurance/improvement geek/professional- "inspected weekly"- who's water is inspected? All STJ or just STT manufactured bottled water? Only those that register with such and such an agency? I got a rip-roaring camphlobactor infection about 10 years ago from tainted food so between hubbies bottled water knowledge and my lab/hospital/micro background- I'll trust anyone/anything who tells me that yes, my water is inspected, yes you can drink it without getting a significant microbial infections. Hate to be obsessed but this purity stuff is my daily professional life, I'm lookin' at my favorite vaca place and want to drink water before noon, not rum. BUT I WON'T be obsessed about it (I can afford the $4.00 a bottle as long as I take a second mortage out on my house in Mass.) but would like someone to tell me that ALL jug/bottled water sold in the VIs is inspected and approved so I don't go home with giardia or god forbid camphlobactor again. That is one nasty infection, trust me!

Hello karrieb

If by 'pristine' you mean natural spring, glacier pure or some other marketing name...you can buy it but the local filtered water is just as good as any mainland filtered water. Rather than risk 'the revenge' we used the local brand and had no problems, in taste or response.

Bluwater is correct in that many of the villas have filter systems and the better villas probably have better systems. However, any system is only as good as the maintenance of the system.

Islander's explanation concerning regular checks of the local bottled water is more reasurring to me as I don't see many people performing regular checks of Cistern filter systems. For me that makes them good enough to bath or cook with (heat kills most bugs) but not to drink.

I once met a woman on Hawksnest Bay who was a transplant resident of ATJ. She had a daughter who was about 5 at the time. She told me a story about her daughter who kept getting sick from the water, and she would take the daughter to the doctor for a script of something that would clear up/kill the offending organisms or whatever.....she did this three times and finally the doc advised that he would not treat the illness again unless she addressed the root cause - her cistern. She had to call in the specialists, who took the lid off of her cistern....

and she watched in hooror and bats flew out, frogs lived in her cistern, etc. I think she said they cleaned it out - I forget how - and I don't recall if they had to drain all of the water.

I just remember her saying the water in her cistern was super-foul.

Now, I know the maintenance of a cistern is not at the top of the minds of many residents. The villa owners and managers are probably most adept at maintaining those systems consistently because health and safety of each guest is really important to them. And, as Chris points out, the filters are only as good as the maintenance on them.

Most of the residents I know own a UV filter. I've never heard anyone talk about their cistern, maintenance or the filter and I suspect they've developed a resistance to much of what would send a visitor to bed for the week.

Thanks guys, I feel alot better about the water now. We'll be staying at the Concordia ecotents this next visit so I doubt they have filters but you've made me feel better about the filtered jug water. Now I just need to get down there, counting the weeks, can't wait. My kids were talking about the two trips they took with us to Maho and my daughter now recommends the island to her customers (she's in the travel business). The memories are always so great to talk about but now I want some new ones!!! Water, rum, Red Stripe, bring 'em all on!

Hello karrieb

Have a great time and be careful with the rum...too much may help you create new memories but you might not recall them. 🙂

Well how sweet you are to care! - actually the rum is a joke, I am an oenophile (spelling) so I usually stick with the white wines and am getting way too old for hangovers! But if my husband tries to ply me full of the demon-rum I'll give him a talkin'to!