Water quality-STX, a dumb question?

It is not a problem.. cisterns usually have filters. I wouldn't drink the water, but it is definteily safe to use it to brush your teeth, shower, etc...

I thought everyone drank bottled water? And that's not a dumb question, Chad! I thought that people drank bottled water because of the lack in the VI's!
Take care!

Most everyone I know drinks bottled water and uses it for cooking, but does as Dominic stated and uses their cistern water for bathing, brushing teeth and such.

And that provides a nice opening for a related question for the STX folks on the board: Can you suggest a good company that delivers 3 or 5 gallon bottles of water? We're finally past buying cases from Cost-U-Less and are desperate to go to a dispenser, so I want to compare the added cost of home delivery to toting the 5 gallon empties to and from a Rainmaker refill machine. Just haven't had great luck researching this yet.

Thanks,
HC

I never drink bottled water, always cistern. The bottled stuff is pricey and it's my hurricane supply. If you have a good immune system, cistern water is OK. At least I haven't gotten sick yet.

I always smell cistern water first. You can smell some bacteria in it, but you have hydrochloric acid in your stomach. In a bottle, cistern water will go bad in a couple of days because the bacteria multiply, and fast-2,4,8,16,32,64, etc. I fill up a gallon in the evening and put it in the refrigerator, and that's my drinking water for the next day.

I would definitely be careful drinking any water that your unfamilir with. How is this water monitored and is there any testing that is done to ensure that there are not a dangerously high amount of ecoli, fecal or any other kind of bacteria. Not only that but there could be high amounts of metal in the water. Also what are these cisterns made of? Could any of the materials deteriorate? Sorry to sound paranoid bu I test industrial and wastewater for a living and I know what is allowed to go into the streams and lakes its pretty discusting. Alot of these toxins end up raining down on us in the future.
Bottled water can be a lot safer if you make sure the company that bottles it is reputable. Plastic can break down into the water and then you have a whole new list of things to worry about. I am a firm believer in filtering all water you drink. I tested culligan water myself just to see if the results advertised are true and sure enough it gets rid of it all. I guess what I'm saying is just make a well informed decision...

Can you BOIL cistern water to make it safe for cooking and drinking?

I know that when you boil water you can kill bacteria. That is usually what causes intestinal issues. But, boiling does not remove metals.

So how effective are the PUR water filters? I'm interrested!
Thanks
Amanda

Ric and I have been here for a year, lived in two different houses in the hills on the northwest end of St. Croix and drink nothing but cistern water.

In both cases, the long-time owners live on the property and also drink the cistern water. There are companies that will test your water source for purity.

The cisterns, in most cases, are big concrete tanks in the ground. The water is collected (either rain, delivered, or well) and stored in the cistern.

At first we were careful about usage, but we've never run out and now our showers are longer.

We planned on buying bottled water but we never have. And Ric talks about getting a tap purifier, but we haven't done that either.

That's been our experience.

Since I rent I use pur filters and Im quite happy with the results. The water that is filtered wont be as pur as Reverse Osmosis water (Culligan) but its better that most bottled water because its not been sitting in plastic for months and you know that it is filtered.

Just a funny side note: I recently read the book "A Trip to the Beach" by Melinda and Robert Blanchard. Its a story of a couple that move to Anguilla (not very far from the Virgins) and open a restaurant. They use bottled water for cooking, but their cistern for everything else, which their staff of Anguilla locals considered silly. According to the book, the Anguilla Health Department visited their restaurant and put three little "bacteria-eating" fish into their cistern, to protect the water supply. Anyone ever hear about anything like that?

I have cistern water and have been using either a Pur or Brita attachment on my kitchen faucet for drinking water for over a year and I've not gotten sick yet.

I usually stock up on the filters when back in the states as they're less pricey than purchasing them here.

VB

Does anyone know of specific recommendations for routine treatment of cistern water? I know that some people periodically add bleach to their cisterns but I am not sure how much should be added. I also know that many people do not add anything to their cisterns and have never had a problem. However....When we first purchased our home a few years ago, we also used the cistern water for everything. After a few days in the house I finally got around to inspecting our cisterns (we have 2) and when I looked in the first on we had a dead bloated rat floating on the surface and a couple of rat skeletons on the bottom. Fortunately, the other cistern was the one in service and that one was relatively clean - only a few lizard skeletons (both have since been cleaned). Further investigation revealed that there was no screen on one of the cistern overflow pipes and that was how the rats had entered the cistern. While filters will take out particulate matter, I doubt that they have any affect on bacteria. I would like to do something to sterilize the water now that we are living here full-time, since we still use it for everything but drinking and cooking. Bleach will do that but how much is enough?

The Big Island in Hawaii also has a long history of relying on cisterns for rain catchment too. The University of Hawaii has an on-line 52 page manual "Rainwater Catchment Systems for Hawaii" that will tell you all (and maybe more) than you ever wanted to know about cisterns.

Here is the link. You can cut and paste into your browser if you need to:

http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/RM-12.pdf

It does an excellent job of discussing construction, health and maintenance issues.

After reading it, I personally would pay for bottled water for the small quantity that I drink. In the very least, I would boil the water I drank. I would also use some filtration, be adding chlorine and be doing regular inspections.

I don't think a cistern is something to be paranoid about. But it isn't something that you should install and forget about. A lot of the advice the manual has in it is common sense, inexpensive, and simple ONCE someone points it out to you.

When I was in the Gallows Bay Hardware several weeks ago they had on display an UV filtration system for $995 they were selling.

You might want to look into that.

Also you might want to read up on filter technology. Manufacturer's make filters that can remove much more than just sediment and/or large particulate matter from water.

Jim