Moving to STX in 3 weeks, help/advice/etc. appreciated!

Charcoal filters do a fantastic job of improving the taste and odor of water but do nothing for bacterial contamination, in fact they provide an excellent breeding area for bateria to thrive in. Most charcoal and carbon block filters have a warning on their packaging similar to below because of this:

WARNING – Do not use with water that is
microbiologically unsafe or of unknown quality without adequate disinfection before or after the system

I talk to a lot of people who have point of use filters on their kitchen sink and are under the impression that it makes the water safe to drink where if anything it probably makes their untreated cistern water more unsafe to drink. Obviously you can drink your cistern water as generations of people throughout the caribbean have done so for centuries. I even drank my untreated cistern water for a couple of days when I first moved here before I decided to take a look in it. Gutter downspout screens will keep large debris out of your cistern but the rain water still has to flow off your roof and down your gutters and across anything in your gutters or caught against your screen.

Chlorination is one of the best ways to sterilize your cistern water. In the states, if your house is connected to a municiple water system then it is already chlorinated for you. If you have a cistern then you need to do it yourself. Adding a minimum of 4.5 ounces of regular unscented household bleach per 1000 gallons of cistern water on a monthly basis should be adequate. Regular bleach contains 5.25% Sodium Hypochlorite, which is a liquid form of chlorine gas. The Health Department here recommends adding 6 ounces of bleach per 1000 gallons to be on the safe side. You need to add it on a regular basis (monthly) because it begins to break down when exposed to air and it is constantly being diluted everytime it rains. To add the correct amount you need to know how much water is in your cistern. To determine this you need to know the length and the width of your cistern and how many inches of water you have in it. Sometimes the walls of the cistern are exposed downstairs and can be easily measured. If not, you can remove the access hatch and stick your head inside and see where the walls are. You need to multiply the length (in feet) of your cistern by the width (in feet) to obtain the number of square feet of your cistern. Multiply this number by 7.48 (gallons per cubic foot) to determine how many gallons of water your cistern contains per foot of level. Divide this number by 12 to obtain gallons per inch and then multiply that number by the actual number of inches of water currently in your cistern. For example, if your cistern is 10 feet by 15 feet, it contains 1122 gallons per foot. If it currently has 40 inches of water in it then it currently contains 3740 gallons. Divide this by 1000 and multiply that by 6 and and it means you should add approximately 22.5 ounces of bleach to your cistern.

I firmly believe in a 3 phase approach to ensuring my cistern water is safe to drink that consists of chlorination, filtration, and then ultraviolet light exposure. Regular chlorination will sterilize the water. A sediment filter will remove the silt and dirt and a charcoal filter will remove any chlorine taste or odor. And ultraviolet light exposure will effectively sterilize any bateria that survives the chlorination.

DISCLAIMER!!!!! I own a company (that I have not mentioned the name of by the way) that installs and maintains whole house water purification systems

are there any systems that use ozone for purification that you know of?

Ozone is used a lot in pools and hot tubs to remove the need for chlorine (which I'm not a fan of).

thanks for the info, what do your systems generally (ball park, say 20-30,000 gallon cistern & a 2-3 bed 1-2 bath house) cost?

I sent you a Private Message

I sent you a Private Message

much apreciated, assuming all goes well with my house hunt I may be contacting you in the next few months

Sounds like they need to relax gun laws & allow citizens to arm themselves for protection.

We have something like 8.5 guns per person in Alaska and do not suffer from these types of crimes.

I myself am armed 80% of the time & would absolutely defend myself or any of you should a situation involving an armed assailant arise.[/

Maybe that's why us Alaskans have a very low crime rate, We are not afraid to shoot we know how and will defend if needed. Bad guys don't stay in our neighbourhood's we make them unwelcome.

 

Also, outside the population centers, Alaska has few people and no roads. Kind of difficult to rob somebody and then hop a plane to make your getaway.

Also, outside the population centers, Alaska has few people and no roads. Kind of difficult to rob somebody and then hop a plane to make your getaway.

Unfortunately Linda, I believe it has more to do with the drug trade then land v. air transportation. Drugs (and humans) are smuggled up from Latin America. Now that US BP and customs have tightened up the US/Mexico boarder, more drugs and the criminals with thier illegal guns and associated profits are coming thru PR and USVI. PRs Governor is petition for federal assistance to stem the flow of this criminal activity as it has driven marked increase is PR crime. Not sure if Dejong ever officially signed on. Arming the general public won't help much (IMO). Putting for active agents in the water and on the land and getting drugs off the island and SOLVING some of our "gang realted" crimes could make a dent.

Also, outside the population centers, Alaska has few people and no roads. Kind of difficult to rob somebody and then hop a plane to make your getaway.

One of the previous posters made a personal attack on a poster from Alaska. We can either share great info on relocating to the VI are we can start a war. Im sure i can run down the VI more than you can run down Alaska.

Also, outside the population centers, Alaska has few people and no roads. Kind of difficult to rob somebody and then hop a plane to make your getaway.

One of the previous posters made a personal attack on a poster from Alaska. We can either share great info on relocating to the VI are we can start a war. Im sure i can run down the VI more than you can run down Alaska.

I assume I am the only Alaskan (though soon to be STXer!!) posting right now, no worries on a war from me 🙂

I don't mean to run down either place, everywhere has its issues, the gras is only greener untill you get there 😉

Thanks to everyone for all the input on this forum, it's really helped me become confident on my move to St Croix.

I certainly wasn't running down Alaska. I thought I stated exact reasons why casual crime is less of a problem there. I did not intend to be snarky. Alaska has a population of about 700,000 people and a geographic area of about 660,000 square miles - about one person per square mile. The USVI has a population of 110,000 spread out over 135 square miles or about 90 people per square mile. Big difference.

Once I started looking up stats, I couldn't stop. Alaska, in it's 660,000 sq miles, has 4,000 miles of paved roads. USVI in it's 135 sq mi, has 575 miles of paved roads. I'll stop now.

Linda here's some Alaska homework for ya:
Alaska Troopers (Discovery)
Army Wives Alaska (OWN)
Coast Guard Alaska (TWC)
Bearing Sea Gold (NatGeo)
Alaska is fascinating.

Sounds like they need to relax gun laws & allow citizens to arm themselves for protection.

We have something like 8.5 guns per person in Alaska and do not suffer from these types of crimes.

I myself am armed 80% of the time & would absolutely defend myself or any of you should a situation involving an armed assailant arise.

I hope you keep your guns and yourself in Alaska. I don't know you and I don't want to be caught in a crossfire because you think you can outgun any bad guys. If I wanted to live in the Wild West, I'd move to Alaska. Guns are dangerous, else we would just send soldiers to battle with their hands. Don't offer to protect me; your gunslinger mentality endangers me.

This came from rshtoo and yes i also live in Alaska.

I sent you a PM from Alaska.

I sent you a PM from Alaska.

That sounds like a threat!

Once I started looking up stats, I couldn't stop. Alaska, in it's 660,000 sq miles, has 4,000 miles of paved roads. USVI in it's 135 sq mi, has 575 miles of paved roads. I'll stop now.

Anchorage has 300,000 people in a land locked town (mountains, swamps & oceans surround it) at almost half the population of the state there are so many people densely packed (when compared with st croix)

We have our own issues here & I certainly didn't mean to infer it was in anyway "better" than the VI, just that our relaxed gun laws have solved an issue you seem to be currently facing. Here guns don't make you instantly have undeniable power over others like they do in the VI (where it seems, unfortunately, the only people in public areas with guns are criminals)

It's definitely an "apples vs oranges" in most cases

PS, anchorage is around 800 sq miles of livable land with a population of around 300,000...( 375 people per sq mile)... Well you get the picture 😉

Sounds like they need to relax gun laws & allow citizens to arm themselves for protection.

We have something like 8.5 guns per person in Alaska and do not suffer from these types of crimes.

I myself am armed 80% of the time & would absolutely defend myself or any of you should a situation involving an armed assailant arise.

I hope you keep your guns and yourself in Alaska. I don't know you and I don't want to be caught in a crossfire because you think you can outgun any bad guys. If I wanted to live in the Wild West, I'd move to Alaska. Guns are dangerous, else we would just send soldiers to battle with their hands. Don't offer to protect me; your gunslinger mentality endangers me.

This came from rshtoo and yes i also live in Alaska.

He also sent me a very nasty/ angry private message, I offered to buy him dinner & discuss his concerns when I got there but he didn't respond, oh well, can't please everyone 😉

Liquid, I take your point. I was in Anchorage in 1994 for a convention. Your mosquitos are as big as crows!!! Had a great time anyway. But I couldn't get used to going back to the hotel room at 10 pm and it still being light.

..... oh well, can't please everyone 😉

TRUE! I think the very nature of an online forum provides some folks (with certain personality types) a heightened degree of perceived superiority. When all else fails, they will resort to nasty personal tactics, instead of addressing the issues. I will say, the overall tone of the board has made positive improvements in past the month with the departure of a few high profile bullies.

Liquid, I take your point. I was in Anchorage in 1994 for a convention. Your mosquitos are as big as crows!!! Had a great time anyway. But I couldn't get used to going back to the hotel room at 10 pm and it still being light.

yes, the state bird is a bit annoying..

it's unfortunate that propane is expensive down there, one of my greatest joys up here has been emptying the trap of my "mosquito magnet" (it runs off propane to produce C02 and an added sent that attacks HORDS of the lill blood suckers then sucks them into a trap where they perish) I swear there would be thousands of them every other day in there it also cut down the local population so much that I could actually go out side and enjoy myself without putting on body armor and carrying a flame thrower.. (haha).

the sun rises around 930 AM currently and sets around 4pm.. so we get the other way too 🙁

..... oh well, can't please everyone 😉

TRUE! I think the very nature of an online forum provides some folks (with certain personality types) a heightened degree of perceived superiority. When all else fails, they will resort to nasty personal tactics, instead of addressing the issues. I will say, the overall tone of the board has made positive improvements in past the month with the departure of a few high profile bullies.

Good to hear 🙂

I am the moderator & admin of several forums (not much to do in Alaska) so I am very familiar with what you think of; a little anonymity and text-only communication really doesn't work for some personality types (they often project emotions into simple statements, which just muddies the waters further)

So far I've been very happy with all the information you great people have provided & think it sheds a good light on the island community.

I just found out today that I'll most likely be there in the second week of next month... I need to buy some shorts! haha

I apologize to LiquidFloride. I let my to tongue get loose because I was dismayed that my family might be jeopardized by a good person exacerbating an already bad gun situation. LF seemed to me to be threatening to pull out a gun at the drop of a hat. I am overly sensitive to gun violence issues because I've lost two immediate family members to gun violence. I will try to tone down my critiques. I don't mean to offend but I did feel threatened. Again, I apologize.