Drinking water on the US Virgin Islands?

Question

I am traveling to USVI. We'll be staying at Cinnamon Bay on St. John. Has anyone who's been there or anyone who lives on the islands know if I can drink the water? Do tourists usually buy water bottled? I know residents who are used to it are probably not worried about that, but any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Answer 1

As a seasoned traveler to St John and a past guest of Cinnamon bay let me first just say...IM JEALOUS!!  Its a spectacular beach and a really fun place to stay!  I have never bought a bottle of water on any of the Virgin Islands and have not run into any problems at all.  The only time I needed to get water from anywhere other than the room tap is while staying at Concordia eco lodge in coral bay....they actually tell you to make sure to get potable water from certain faucets.  You should be fine with the tap water! Have a great time!!!

Answer 2

The water here is generally safe to drink.  In the USVI every home is equipped with a cistern which exists for the purpose of collecting rain water for drinking and bathing.  With light maintenance (i.e. screening rain catchments, chlorinating water about once a month), tap water should be fine.  Some areas of St. John receive water from the Water and Power Authority.  This water is created via flash desalinization of seawater.  Again, the water is fresh and safe to drink but it tends to be a bit more chlorinated because of the distribution.  If you're at a restaurant that serves tap water you can rest assured that the water is tested regularly for pathogens (once a month).  If you don't want to take the chance, we have a wide variety of bottled water available.  I recommend buying from local manufacturers (even though they only sell 1 and 5 gallon bottles) though because they're required to test their water 4 times a month.

Answer 3

We always drink bottled water. Most places the water is filtered. (restaurants, bars, Inns and resorts) Not sure about Cinnamon Bay.

You can buy ice and water to drink at St John's Ice Company in the Lumberyard complex. Bring quarters. Save your gallon plastic jugs for refills of water.

We usually rent a house/villa and we drink only bottled water too.Most rental house have cistern water that they  filter.

Best  advise I can give you is drink bottled water at the camping grounds.)

Answer 4

Every island in the Caribbean (possibly besides in Haiti) has either

1) rain water collected in a cistern below the house's foundation.

or

2) A Municipal water supply that comes from a 2a) Desal. water plant or 2b) water drawn from underground wells which gets filtered by the coral of the island...  Caribbean water is as safe if not safer than the US tap water because we don't have a history of toxic companies polluting the ground water with cancer causing chemicals.