TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Questions. Is SXM tap water safe and is ok for restaurants refuse to serve it??

We have been going to St Maarten for over 20 years and never had any problems drinking the tap water. A few years ago one of our favorite restaurants started refusing to sever tab water but would gladly sell you a $6 bottle. Not trying to be cheap but being family of 6 at times buying table water adds up the bill so we stopped going to that restaurant. Now this trip another of our favorite restaurants started the same policy saying the water is not safe and don’t serve it so dinner guest don’t blame the food when it’s the water. Seems to be a trend of more and more restaurants. So the question is do most people think with water is safe and would you pay or mind to pay for the bottled water? 💦

To ME, I think the water in SXM is perfectly safe to drink. We usually drink wine with dinner and a couple of glasses of water. We buy one bottle of water per meal, no more. No idea how much they charge for that bottle.

Like you, we have been going to the island for over 20 years and have never had a problem drinking the water in the places we stay. As to drinking the water in a restaurant we normally have wine or beer. Do the restaurants you favor use bottled water to make their ice? Most bars we frequent do use bottled water to make a drink like scotch and water. I suspect that the cost of tap water may have something to do with their use of bottled water since customers would be upset if they were charged for a simple glass.

I can understand that for a family of 6 that would add up. I typically always have my own litre in my bag. Have never had an issue with keeping it on the floor near the table in casual restaurants....heck, at Zee Best, Kakao, Bikini, and the yacht club I even keep it on the table. No worries. No one has EVER said anything to me.

As we drink wine, we don't deal with ice cubes or anything like that. We do not get tap water, but that's just us. I will get a bottle of flat in a nicer establishment, but for two persons that is manageable.

Never had an issue with tap water in St. Martin or any of the other nearby islands. Now, Mexico is a much different story. Sounds like they're simply trying to get you to spend $6 on something that is typically free of charge. If the water was an issue, then it would extend beyond drinking tap water. For example, when you eat a salad they would wash the lettuce (hopefully) in tap water and that would still cause potential digestive problems. So would ice cubes, etc. I wouldn't worry too much about this when visiting SXM, but for Mexico (Cancun, Tulum, etc.) we take probiotics one month before and after our visits. We never have done this for St. Martin.

It's 30+ years for us and have heard this question many times. It is my understanding that most or all SXM tap water is from desalination facilities and is completely safe. I personally believe that as already stated, the additional profit for selling bottled water is based on $ and not any problems with tap water.

Correct. Just a way to make more money. One time in toppers I needed to take a pill. Asked for a glass of water and they would only sell me a small bottle for 3 bucks. Greed.

I always drink the tap water. No problem and I have a sensitive stomach

Tap water on the Dutch side is fine. Some places want to sell a $1 bottle of water for $6 to add to their bottom line. I can do without water with most meals but others do want it so many times you are stuck with the expensive bottled water.

My Wife only do sparkling water .

Not only ice cubes, but I would guess coffee, tea, and any other drinks that need water probably use tap water. And I would imagine they wash the dishes in the same. We have drank it several times with no problem but still usually order the $6 bottle, dont ask me why. I would think that if the water was a problem that half the island would be sick.

Just got very important info about the sparkling water and this will stop because of health reason.

was at the DIVI Nov 24-dec 1, and water had a very salty taste,....bot big bottles at carefour or wherever to make coffee

What??

Been drinking tap water every day for years, with no issues. Please don't buy the bottled stuff. There's no room at the dump for it and people are too lazy to recycle.

Very good point Elaine.

I totally agree about the plastic bottle situation. If the water tastes good, do tap and also use longer life plastics to refill. Our specific problem wasn’t that we didn’t trust the water. It was that our building was older and the pipes obviously old too. The water tasted disgusting and was cloudy. Solution was to invest in a water filtration system with carbon filter that you usually change only once per year. The difference is amazing in clarity as well as taste. I am an avid water consumer (7 liters per day) so it’s very important to me.

Isn't the local bottled water just the same as tap water anyway.

Yep.

We had a PUR water filter on our tap and a Brita pitcher. All for show!
Water is fine.
Cheers
irina

It’s not for show for me. It’s necessary. Even our toilet was stained within 1 year of being replaced with weekly heavy cleaning with chloro. Stained from the water. My sister in law is a nutritionist/biologist and works for the military. She’s seen so many varying results of tap water samples all over the world. A filter is more peace of mind, for me at least. As far as bottled water (imported) it’s much different because of ph and minerals, if you care about those things. Expensive but for a reason. Quality. Totally agree though that restaurants WAY OVERCHARGE.

A few years ago we were at Paris Bistro and I asked for tap water since I am not a big water fan and was told they did not have any??? So I asked them if they had sinks at the restaurant, he said yes and I said to get the water from the sink. He kept saying no and I won out.