We discuss new developments in our polarizable water model consisting of smeared charges and a self-consistent point dipole polarizability, and compare the structural and polarization results at ambient and a supercritical conditions with those obtained previously with the corresponding simple point charges counterpart. We discuss the outcome of this comparison and make contact with the structural data from neutron scattering with isotopic substitution. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.