We were told our water was filtered and not to buy water. We drank the water it was fine. We also bought water for the beach. We froze our bottle water the night before and it stayed nice and cold all day. Ask your hotel or villa agent if the water is filtered.

Have a great trip....

We have never had any problems.
Most villas will have filtered water or they won't get any business. Having said that, filtered water may have a strange taste for some and if you are susceptible to 'bugs in the water whenever/wherever' you travel, you might want to get the bottled water for consumption.

Generally the cisterns will have filters both on the intake and outtake as well as some treatment within the cistern itself. For example, our vacation home on Water Island has a filter on the pipes coming from the roof catchment system, we treat the water inside the system (ozoninator -sp? - and other methods) and then we have two separate inline filters going into the house (sediment filter and another filter). We do drink our cistern water. Though, as earlier post suggested, it is a personal decision for our guests if they wish to purchase bottled water.

Watch out.
Personally, there is only two places I trust out of the tap. One is the Westin Resort and two is Caneel Resort. Given the choice between island pure and tap(resorts that have desalinization plants), I take island pure. Buy a couple of cases of island pure at starfish or dolphin for like ten dollars and use it as your drinking and cooking water. Just because you dont get violently ill immediately doesnt mean water from the tap is safe. There is a reason the health department screens people for parasites every year to validate your health card to locals who work in the restaurants. Untreated water is always a home to lots and lots of wee beasties. Dont take a chance for saving a few bucks. If worse comes to worse, add a teaspoon of bleach to a gallon of water and/or boil it in a microwave that you want to ingest out of the tap. Most filters are inefficient at treating microbes at the speed that the water flows through them.

Your public service announcement has concluded.

I've been drinking my cistern water for over 7 years and all I do to it is run it thru a sinktop filter. Tastes fine and causes me no harm.

I couldn't get over how great my hair felt and looked with Cistern
water after I shampooed. Used very little conditioner. Nice surprise.

Do you know if the water at Secret Harbor STT is ok to drink or is bottled water better?
Thanks!

We couldn't tell the difference either. The cistern filtered water
is good.

Does anyone know how much a gallon of water costs on St. John? I am going to be spending the month of July on the island and was trying to decide if it made more sense to purchase a purifier or to buy bottled water.

I seem to remember somewhere around $1.75. It varies depending upon 'filtered' or name brand 'spring' designer water.

Much cheaper than gasoline or Coca-Cola!

Thanks, that's helpful.

Pine Peace Mini Mart had the Island Pure water for $1.29 about a month ago.

Just my 2 cents worth...
I think the bottled water people have made a fortune playing on peoples irrational fears.

I've travelled quite a bit, including several third world destinations. And while the infrastructure and cleanliness of the USVI are not quite up to mainland US standards, its certainly not "third world."

Just be sure to drink filtered water. There's nothing magical about it just because it comes from a bottle. I would be happy to quench my thirst with Marty's filtered cistern water.

...and, for what its worth, I have a degree in biology. I work at a high school, and my colleague who teaches chemistry (he has a PhD) works summers for the local municipal water plant. He also pooh-poohs the whole bottled water industry as an unnecessary extravagance. He tests water from the main brands of bottled water and compares it to our tap water...no difference.

I'm refering to safety, not taste. Dissolved minerals and chlorination can affect taste, and some with palates more delicate than mine may prefer the taste of one type of water over another. Viva La Difference. But if taste is no big deal to you, and its simple hydration you want, save your money and get it from the tap!

and thats true whether you're in St. Louis (as I am) or St. Thomas.

Speaking of taste-After traveling in some of the state-side cities, Boston is a good example-I think the cistern water tastes great. Boston water tastes TERRIBLE, though I'm sure it's fine. I think it's the chlorination. The water isn't so great in Manchester NH, either. It's all what you get used to. Myself, I'll take my well water. Anyway, the cistern water with the filter is fine. Drink up!

All..

At the end of the day, what I would like to know is whether my children are at risk of getting sick because of my recent vacation with them to the island. We stayed at a resort, however, ate out on several occasions, including on St. John. Most of the time we used bottled water, canned soda, juices, etc. But reading all this water talk is making me nervous. Thoughts?

This has really gotten out of hand. Don't worry about your family. If there was any chance of them getting sick, you would have seen the effects before you left. We are not talking Ebola here, more like Montezuma's revenge.

Drank filtered water at the ecotents, messed with my system a little. But, I am ultra sensetive. Drank tap water at Secret Harbour... did just fine. Gallon jugs at stores were $1.29 or so.

Chris,
Thanks yet again for a consise, sensible and honest response.

I have a Pur tap filter on my sink and the water tastes great! Eliminates the hauling of gallons of water. Before Hurricanes Hugo and Marilyn, we used to drink the water directly from our cistern. Now, no.