Looking to have someone who has recently been on the French side to chime in about current conditions. Thanks,

I've read that water from tap is safe to drink on the Dutch side, but on the French side the chlorine content is high so not recommended for drinking.

The French side follow EU quality rules and is fine to drink.

Our hosts left a Brita filter jug in our fridge and suggested we use it. At home, we drink well water, and we only buy water when in questionable locations.

Pirate 🏴‍☠️

https://orobnat.sante.gouv.fr/orobnat/rechercherResultatQualite.do

Here you can find the official water quality reports for the commune of St Martin in the Dept of Guadeloupe. Like anywhere, excess rain or construction may create temporary issues, but the water as a rule is fine.

I buy spring water at home from a glacier deposit spring down the street because of the psychology of worrying about water sitting in pipes. My wife subscribes to the belief that your immune system needs some challenges and drinks tab water religiously where ever we go. (Brita filters remove certain chemicals, like lead and chlorine, but don't eliminate bacteria.)

We have stayed at Grand Case Beach Club on French side for 17 years with no water quality issues. We have stayed at Mary's Boon for ten years on the Dutch side with no water quality issues. Thanksgiving in 2022 we stayed at the Orient Beach Hotel and they had a little card that suggested not using the tap water there so we used bottled water

My wife and I are currently in Sint Maarten now and we have many friends who are locals and live here year round. For most part water quality on the island has been safe for the past 25 years that we have been visiting. However, we ate lunch on French side last Monday. We both enjoyed a wonderful salad for lunch, unfortunately, we have been sick for past 5 days with extreme stomach pain, fever, diarrhea and headaches. Spent morning at Doctor and we are currently each on 3 different prescriptions to clear out our systems, reset our guts. Our (French) local doctor on the island advised not to drink water on French side or eat any fresh fruits or salads that may have been washed in local water. Part of issue is France’s recent mandate to conserve water and they turn on and off water supply at various times throughout the day that creates harmful water conditions that make water risky. Long story short- be cautious and drink bottled water while on French side.

Agree with others here. We just stayed 2 weeks on the French side, Orient Bay then Grand Case. At Orient Bay the water was okay but just by smell you could tell it wasn't good to drink (I still did to make coffee in a pinch). The water supply was shut off every weekday either in the morning or the evening for 3 hours or so - sometimes there was still some water but no pressure. This made me suspect that even though the water is 'up to EU standards', I still wouldn't drink it.

Grand Case Beach Club had no problems. We still drank mainly bottled water but used tap for tea or coffee. It seems like they have their own system there for water.

So I would say 'safe to drink' yes compared to Mexico or similar, but still preferred bottled water.

DS

We were just there last month, the tap and bath water on the French side came out yellow!!!!!! Would definitely not recommend drinking it!!