Cistern

I am new to the island and have never used a cistern. I have no idea how to use one or if they run out of water or if you can't drink your water from it. Can you possibly tell me any tips on cisterns?

East end Doug: Someone on this Board provided link to a study done by University of Hawaii, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources on Rain Catchment systems. UofHI offered the following regarding treatment: "A typical recommendation for chlorine treatment from the literature available on the subject is to add 2.5 ounces (just under 1/3 cup) of unscented laundry bleach (containing 5.25 percent available sodium hypochlorite) for every 1000 gallons of water during rainy periods; during dry periods, the recommendation is to add 5 ounces per 1000 gallons of water. ....In the absence of a method of precisely monitoring and maintaining this level of chlorine in the tank, some sources recommend that chlorine be added once a month."
Shelly, you didn't mention which island or area of the island. Residences may get water from WAPA or from cistern or both. Cisterns are holding tanks typically made of concrete and generally you should be able to see the tank(s) under or around the house, fed by the rain that falls on the house, funneled through the gutter system and into the tank. Conservation is the key to your water supply. If you run out of water, you might be able to contact WAPA who will (for $$$) bring a water tanker truck to your location and refill your cistern. Lots of folks drink their cistern water while lots of folks buy bottled water for drinking. Ask your landlord how they treat the water and if its potable.

You can easily monitor the chlorine level with an inexpensive test kit available at any pool supply store. Take the test sample before the water goes through any filters, espcially a carbon filter to get the true reading.

Bassman

Thank you so much for the information. I really wish we didn't have a cistern, but that's the only option I have since I'm renting. I don't know if the owners are going to treat the water, or if I have to. I really miss taking baths, but I guess that's part of the sacrafice of living here. 😉
It will be nice to be in a house again, so no complaining from me. Condos are nice, but just aren't like a home.

Shelly: BATHS! HAH! Oh, too funny!

Seriously, you will quickly become used to taking "sailor showers" and observing the, "If it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down" adage, along with turning ON the faucet to damp down your toothbrush, turning the faucet OFF as you brush and then turning ON the faucet briefly to rinse mouth and toothbrush.

As far as wishing you didn't have a cistern, feel blessed. The rain which fills your cistern is soft and pure despite the addition of chlorine which your landlord will probably do anyway. As far as "city water" on STT is concerned, I'm very glad that it's confined to a small downtown area. The piped water is either desal which is rather slimy or well which has a rather heavy "dead" taste.

If your cistern runs out of water, the water trucks will bring in either desal or well, neither of which can really take the place of of that which comes from the sky.

As far as potability is concerned, I personally don't drink the cistern water at my place, simply preferring bottled water for the taste. However, if your cistern is clean, tap it off into a gallon container and put it in the 'fridge and it'll taste just fine and not do you any harm at all,

In the days before chlorination it was common to put little "silverfish" into the cistern. Happily swimming around in there they ate up any algae and kept all clean.

Cheers,

Got a few other cistern questions for all you folks with years of experience...

We've been told that you should clean your cistern (read: have it cleaned) every two years at the maximum, but I've also read that it sould be done prior to each rainy season. Either way, we're definitely due, even though we have absolutely no problems with our water quality/purity. (STT Resident is right about how wonderful the rainwater is -- it's spoiled me for good.)

So here are my questions:

If your cistern isn't near empty, will the cistern cleaners be able pump out the water for you or will you need to do that yourself?

If you do need your cistern drained, will the cleaning company be able to "save" your rain water (oerhaps in a tanker truck?) so it can be used to refill your cistern after it's been cleaned?

Our two cisterns (our house was once a duplex) are both pretty full, and I'd hate to lose all that good, free rain water and have to pay to replace it with the less than great desal or well water.
If there's no way to "save" the water, I guess our next best option is to drain one of the two cisterns, have it cleaned, pump the rainwater from the other cistern into the clean one, and the clean the second cistern and either have it filled with tanker water or just see if we can last until the next rainy season refills it naturally -- but that seems like a heck of a lot of work.

Thanks in advance for the invaluable continuing education y'all provide us newbies. So many of us have no idea how we ever would have made so far without the generous friends wefound on this board.

Gratefully,
--HC

The house we are selling is in the mid- island area of St Croix - Rattan - and not only are we able to have deep baths, but my teenage daughter and her friends that seemed to live with us were all able to have those endless showers that they were so fond of.
In fact, we have never had to buy water in all the years, except for refilling the pool after we repainted it. Even then we were still able to use the cisterns to fill a good part of the pool.

It really depends on where you live, I found my garden was able to remain quite lush without much watering and even that watering was coped with by our cisterns and washing the cars too!
pressure washing the patios and stonework came from the cistern too.
Some areas, St X East End in places, for example, are really quite arrid, where as mid-island is more lush and tropical.

Wow. That is alot of information to think about. I've never used a Cistern and up until now, I've never even HEARD of one. I was considering Cotten Valley, (STX). It's so far east that I may have problems getting enough rain though. I may go look in Judith's Fancy at a different house. I read online that you only need to clean your cistern every 4-5 years.

IN the more than 10 years since I've owned my house in beautiful Carambola I have NEVER had to buy water, and I take long baths and showers and do lots of laundry etc....maybe that's because we actually get RAIN on the north and west sides of the island, unlike dry old East End (Cotton Valley for example.) East End is prone to dryness and bush fires, and is only green now because of unusually heavy rains the past year. Just wait until summer....cactus grows like crazy on the east end for a reason...

we live up on top of a hill in rattan area and we have over an acre of lush native trees, plants, coconut palms, citrus trees, bananas etc.
I personally find the East End dreadfully depressing and treeless - we have over a dozen of the flamboyant trees.
The North and Mid island are far more tropical in my OPINION!

Jane...

You have a DOZEN flamboyant trees? They are my absolute favorite! Should you ever feel that one of yours could use a good home where it could spread out, please keep me in mind!

--An insanely jealous HipCrip

we have well over a dozen mature and probably 200 seedling trees from infancy to about 2 feet high - we have never been disturbed by any of the hurricanes so natural growth cycles are occuring.
we have a huge one over our back patio and our long drive is lined with them.

fellow readers?

if cistern water is treated,is it a whole house filter or just a faucet mounted filter? does the cistern water stain clothing in the wash?

njg

No staining here from the cistern, but if you have to use the well water...ugh. My husband will never have another truly white shirt.

The bleach is really such a miniscule amount that it doesn't do anything at all. We don't have a filter at all, and the cistern water is pure and fresh and sweet. Living on the east end, though, sometimes you gotta kick in that well and it is salty and nasty. We don't drink or cook with it when we are forced to use it but make great use of the water stations around town.

We have a "whole house" filter, and in addition we use Brita filters for our drinking/cooking water.

Being the child of a microbiologist and a chemist makes you a little squeamish, I guess.... 😉

Best,

LR

Whole house filters work well for removing sediment and larger particles. I'm not sure any filter can remove viruses.

If you really are concerned about killing micro organisms you need to look at installing a UV filter.

Jim

If your roof has overhanging trees, you need to clean your cistern more often than if you have nothing above. You can clean your cistern yourself with one of those swimming pool crawlers. They are great for sucking up any muck that has settled on the bottom. You might pull the hatch cover and skim anything on the surface now and then if you are particularly concerned.

Keep in mind that many residents don't do much of anything to their cisterns and yet there are no island-wide outbreaks of dysentery or other water-related ailments.