Rainy Day in St. Thomas, A Nice Christmas Present

Ok, OK, OK. Yes, it’s my turn (clearly) to write a blog. Kirk has been doing the lion’s share of this work, and it is certainly my turn. Fortunately yesterday’s rainy day gave me enough to write about, but as typical with a rainy day, not enough motivation to write this yesterday! Oh well. Here it goes:

Yesterday was a rainy day here in St. Thomas. Since we only get a few of them a year (I would guess about 30 depending on hurricane activity), most of us are very happy when it’s a rainy day. The reason people are so happy when it rains is because now we can take long showers and flush our toilets. Most people who live here have been conserving water for a very long time. Since most homes here have cisterns, we rely on rain water to fill them up.

Basically it’s like a basement in the states, made out of concrete and then sealed with waterproof sealant and then it houses water. A pump is then used to pump the water into our homes. Some homes have different set ups and some are hooked up to WAPA (the local utility company). Some condos have water treatment plants and deliver water directly to each condo for anywhere between 3 cents and 10 cents a gallon. At those prices, you will most likely turn off the water while brushing your teeth and take shorter showers.

If we have a drought and it hasn’t rained in a while, then you can order a truckload of water. We always order the large truck which contains approximately 5250 gallons. The cost for this is about $350 which makes it about $.066 cents a gallon.

So you will find that many Virgin Islanders will not flush their toilets after each use, will take short showers (often turning the water off when shampooing and soaping up), and will absolutely not run the water continuously while brushing their teeth! These are not bad habits to get into, although when I’m in the states, I am teased that I continue these habits (although I occasionally do take a longer shower that is a luxury!). Perhaps some stateside people should adopt these habits; it might just make our planet a little greener!