It is almost impossible to be out of sight of water on St. John. The blue ocean can be glimpsed around every corner and from every turn of the precipitous mountain roads that criss-cross the island. Yet this is a place with no natural sources of freshwater besides rain. And when we arrived there in late April it had not rained in over three months. The few wells that once supplied water when the island was sparsely populated by sugarcane planters and their slaves are now brackish (contaminated with salt water). So how does the island support a local population and a steady influx of tourists, with their inconsiderate water usage? The small villa we rented was a case in point.

Housing in the Virgin Islands is required to have cisterns to capture and store rainwater. The size of the cistern is dictated by the size of the house. Roof systems are designed to funnel water into these cisterns where it is filtered for use as drinking water. Cisterns are ancient technology that helps water stay fresh and uncontaminated by providing a dark, cool environment that is inhospitable to bacteria. On the islands these cisterns are often made of concrete and form the foundations of the houses. In some cases they are large black plastic barrels. Our villa had a more advanced system for water collection than most.

The villa consisted of two buildings connected by a brick patio surrounded by waist high brick walls. One building housed a small bedroom with a porch, a bathroom and a beautiful shower open to the sky. It was elevated above the other building which contained a living room, dining room, kitchen, porch and another bath. There are no glass windows in many buildings on the island just screened openings with heavy shutters for hurricanes and storms. The resulting feeling is that you are living outdoors. With average tempatures year round ranging from 77-85 degree F there is no need for heating or AC.

The entire little villa complex was designed as a catchment system. The two hip roofs and the patio capture rainwater. The three showers (the third is on the patio next to a hot tub), and sinks capture grey water which is used to water the gardens on an automated sprinkler system ensuring that the lush tropical plantings that surround you stay that way.

In spite of this elegant design it is still necessary to supplement the water supply with purchased fresh water from the island’s desalination plants. The principal problem, as we learned from our St. Thomas taxi driver (everyone on these islands are experts in water subjects), is toilet flushing. A toilet flush from a low flow toilet consumes 5 gallons of water all at once. This is much more than a quick shower or dishwashing session would use. As Freddie the cab company owner pointed out, a villa with four people requires 8 flushes a day or a usage of 280 gallons of water per week just for flushing. As you might imagine, you are encouraged to only flush when necessary along with turning showers and sinks off while you are soaping or washing.

We had a water delivery while we were there. 4000 gallons of desal water were trucked up the steep half mile long dirt access road and pumped into the cistern. The cost? Around $375 a month with 300 of that for the transport costs. Imagine paying $375 a month for water.

Upstate NY is an area with no water shortage issues. The Erie Canal season opening scheduled for next week may be delayed because of too much water. Lake Ontario is one of the largest freshwater seas on the planet. So it was eye-opening to visit this paradisical island and receive a pointed lesson in water conservation. It made me realize how unbelievably wasteful and disrespectful of this invaluable resource most of us are.

Postscript: It rained heavily the last three nights we were there with more in the forecast. As you might imagine the locals were not complaining. With the rain came the blossoming of many flowers and a huge increase in the sounds of the night along with the pounding of the water on the metal roof. We lay in bed mesmerized by it all. What a beautiful place.