Thought of more questions?

Private homes generally get their water from the sky and store it in cisterns beneath the house.

Most homes have a subsurface disposal system (septic tank and leach field)

Some homes in Cruz bay are connected to city water.

So if I understand this, some homes collect rain water and drink and use that?? What if you dont get any rain for a while? And also some homes have private wells that need to get pumped out? Unless you live in or near cruz bay it's hooked up to all city stuff.

right, when it rains you store your rain water in a cistern which is like the basement of a house only full of water. When it doesn't rain you have to buy water. It is delivered 3000 gallons at a time at a cost of about $300+/- on STX it may be higher on STJ.
Municipal water and sewage is the exception rather than the rule.
If you have a pool you will use a lot more water.

That must be a VERY big cistern? Does it have some sort of filtering system for drinking the rain water? I assume all the St. J homes have these systems? I have rented some of these homes and cant honestly remember seeing any under the house where the washer and dryers were. Are they buried?

Yes, cisterns are buried. Think of them as being similar to an underground swimming pool. The size of the house (number of bathrooms/bedrooms usually determines the size of the cistern). For example ours is large (15,000 gallons) but they can vary greatly in size. You'll usually find an access panel (say 2' sq.) in the floor of a utility or mechanical room or in the garage (if your house has one). Yes, some houses have filter systems but not all house do.

Great! thanks for explaining that to me. I will definitely remember to ask about that.

Yes approx 90% of all homes on STJ have a cistern and when you run out you have to buy water - we paid approx $500 +/- for 5,500 gallons. You get used to conserving water and when you enter dry season you really get used to conserving 🙂 Typical big cistern filling rains come April/May and again Oct/Nov so now the water delivery trucks are in full swing and in about a month we can be on a list for a delivery - anywhere from a day to 2 weeks !!!!! We have a 3 step water filter on our cistern so are OK to drink, some people drink it without and some people would never drink from a cistern in which case they buy gallon water jugs and refill them from St John Ice for 50c gallon.

Hope this helps

Pia

Leslie
If you want a whole bunch of answers to your questions use the SEARCH function at the top of the page. For example if you type in 'cisterns' and click on relocation forum and the all dates you will get virtually 100s of different comments. You can do the same for any topic. Another thing I suggest is to use 'Google Earth' to really see what any island looks like. Give it a try.

Leslie
If you want a whole bunch of answers to your questions use the SEARCH function at the top of the page. For example if you type in 'cisterns' and click on relocation forum and the all dates you will get virtually 100s of different comments. You can do the same for any topic. Another thing I suggest is to use 'Google Earth' to really see what any island looks like. Give it a try.

I'm a step ahead of ya. lol I have been doing just that and am finding a ton of good info. The map is one I have here at home with just a few differences. But I get the gist of it. I cant wait to return to put all my info I have gathered to the test and hope to leave the island with a direction. But I'm not coming in blind to anything. Or I hope so anyways. Now if I can stay away from happy hours and stay focused I will be doing good. lol