In a word.......NO. Inquire with the agent as to whether the house has a water treatment system. Many of the higher end villas do. If not, plan on buying water for drinking, ice and cooking.

Hi. I called the Caribbean Villas & Resorts Management Co. and asked the lady I spoke with to call the owner to ask that question and she avoided my request by just saying that she would never drink or use cistern water to cook with. So, I really don't know and am not sure how to find out if she won't call the owner to ask.

We are paying over $12,000 for one week, you would think it would have a purification system.

Thanks for replying.

Mary

I cook with cistern water (if it boils), but I don't drink it or use it for ice cubes.

There is a lot of microbiology associated with my job, and knowing what I know, I doubt there is any home purification system on the island that I would trust.

My husband's family has been traveling down to St John for years and they have never used bottled water for anything. They drank water from the faucet, used it for cooking, to make ice, etc and nobody ever got sick....not even close to sick.

Here is what I found online:

http://www.caribbeanmag.com/search/facts/St_John/
Most U.S.V.I residences use cistern water for drinking. Hotels usually specify if their water is not safe to drink. Bottled water is suggested for those with sensitive stomachs. In general the water at restaurants, in homes and in villas is good to drink.

From other things I have read, it probably depends on how often the cistern is cleaned and if there is a filtration system. These would be the best questions to ask a property manager. So you know, property management companies should ideally have records of maintenance being that they are usually responsible for having the work done. The owners pay the property managment company to take care of everything. If a property management company isn't willing to contact the owners of a particular villa to answer your questions, then I wouldn't rent from them. Remember, roughly 20% of the money you pay for your rental is going toward the property manager. You are essentially paying them to answer these questions and if they don't follow through or brush you off, there are plenty of other villas out there.

Oh for goodness' sake, Diana! Such misinformation! Sorry, but in over two decades here I've never heard of anyone getting sick from using cistern water for cooking or from drinking it. Frankly I drink bottled water because I don't particularly like the taste of cistern water.

Hotels and restaurants are required by law to have their water tested monthly for potability and the majority of homeowners add a small amount of chlorine bleach to their cisterns monthly "just in case." I 've had my restaurant here for 11 years now and my water only ONCE in that time came up negative by a miniscule of a percentage. The lab called me right away, I added a tiny bit of bleach to the cistern and a next-day re-test came up just fine. Not to say, though, that a dozen pages of paperwork didn't go along with even that tiny infraction!

If cistern water was unsafe to drink or cook with then the population of the Virgin Islands would probably be close to zero. Sorry if I sound antsy but Diana's response just rubbed me the wrong way and such misinformation needs to be corrected. Cheers!

Thanks STT Resident! My husband will leave a sausage pizza out all night and then eat it in the morning when he wakes up and he NEVER gets sick...so I wasn't sure if his lack of sickness from drinking cistern water was due to his stomach of steel or the fact that the water is perfectly safe, haha. I can't imagine using bottled water for everything, so your posting makes perfect sense.

Cistern water is "probably" OK to drink. I personally drink bottled water while on island and use cistern water for cooking, washing and brushing my teeth. Remember, cistern water comes from rain falling on the roof so initially it is very pure. Roofs however collect leaves, dust, bird droppings and occasionally peeling paint that can end up in the cisterns. This makes cistern water less than pure but it won't kill you. Cistern water is very "soft" water. I always notice how clean and shiny my hair is after taking a shower. I hope this helps.

Sorry I hit a nerve, STT Resident, If all villas added bleach to their cisterns on a regular maaaaybe I'd think twice but I don't believe that's generally the case. For those of us who come down once or twice a year and are not regularly using cistern water I stand my my original advise. Don't drink it, make ice with it or cook with it unless you are going to be boiling the water for several minutes. There's lots of stuff in a cistern that I don't even want to think about let alone make a list of.

Crystal - too funny! Now, though, does he leave that sausage pizza out on the kitchen counter or does he at least put it in the 'fridge overnight?

Greg, I'm still a bit antsy about Diana's response so your putting "probably" in quotation marks about the potability of the water brushes me just a bit.

But you're right about the softness of the water. I only notice the difference on the very rare occasions I get "off island" and have to remember to buy all kinds of skin softeners because that "hard water" totally gnarls up my skin. I'm certainly no spring chicken and age has naturally taken its toll on the skin but when taking a shower or otherwise washing up "off island" I emerge feeling like a lizard about to shed.

One uses MUCH less shampoo and detergents here in general because of that softness but that softness is probably why I prefer bottled water for drinking rather than cistern water. And I don't like water from a desal plant, period, find it a bit:"funky" for want of a better description while "well water" has always tasted rather "dead" to me.

Each to his own, of course and apologies if I've belaboured a point. Cheers, dears!

Uh....no...we're talking pizza in the box on the counter overnight! I fall asleep a couple of hours before he does every night and I don't really care about eating the leftovers anyway....so he goes to bed without putting it away. And even if he does put it away, he doesn't bother to wrap it up...he just stuffs the entire box in the fridge. Regardless, the darned pizza sits out for at least 12 hours between servings and he never gets sick.

Drink lots of Painkillers and you will be fine!

Touche, jpen!

Diana, I still think your estimation is way off base - but, again, each to their own and I prefer not to beat a dead horse. You have your opinion as a visitor and I have mine as a longtime resident so maybe the 'twain shall never meet and we shall simply agree to disagree!

Crystal - hubbie should probably order a small or medium rather than a large?

Cheers to all!

I have been drinking cistern water since 1983 but I must say that there are a lot of flora and fauna in cistern water to which some digestive tracts have not been properly introduced.

For older persons and babies, or those with compromised immune systems, I recommend filtered or bottled water for drinking.

Very well stated, A. Davis. Those of us who are only visiting the islands may find that we don't tolerate the bacteria present in cistern H2O. Better to be safe than sorry. Drink bottled water.

While drinking cistern water does not make me or my fiance sick, our Scottish Terrier vomits if the water isn't filtered (he has a sensitive stomach) so we put the tap water in a Brita filter pitcher and drink it out of that. For cooking, we use water straight out of the tap and we are alive and well after more than seven years on St. John (him) and nearly two years here (me).

We drink, cook with, shower, brush our teeth, you name it with cistern water! Have from the time I moved here!

Hi again!

Thanks for all of the advice, although, I am more confused now than I was before.

I called the person who built the property to ask if there was a filtration system put in place when she built the villa and cottage back in 1995. She said no, but to check with the current owner to see. So, I called the Caribbean Villas and Resorts Management Co. back again and spoke with a different lady this time. She called the management office in St. John and asked and they said there is not. I didn't think to ask how often they clean or maintain the cistern. I do know they have two of them since I have read reviews where the renters had to call the local office and have them switch the cistern over when they ran out of water. The lady who built and lived at the property told me she drank the water when she lived there with no problems. She is from St. John and has lived there her entire life, so maybe she is just used to the water.

Is there a instant result water testing kit that one could take along to check to see if there are any harmful microbes in the water? Maybe I'm worrying about this too much. I just don't want anyone in our group to become ill.

Thanks again!

Mary

In my personal opinion I think you are worrying way to much about the water. Think of all the hundreds of thousands of tourists that have come and gone to the islands. You go to a bar, order a mixed drink, a painkiller, a vodka and grapefruit, whatever, do you think they make their ice cubes out of bottled water? I don't think so and we are all still around to share info with one another. We've been going to the islands every year and we have yet to get sick or die from consuming the water. I think you should just get ready for an amazing vacation and not worry about the water. If you are really really worried, don't drink it, use bottled water. But remember the ice cubes you have in your drinks are made from island water.