WOOHOO!!! County water!

[Wendy]

After waiting months & have forked out several thousand dollars, they are finally digging our county water line in today. I will be so happy to have water when I need it. Way cheaper than having it hauled in too.

[Kathy in MD]

great news wendy...no more hauling water...

[kirkmcquest]

I like having my own well.

[fantasymaker]

What was the hauling costing?

[Country Lady]

Getting water hauled in must have been a lot to deal with. Congratulations on getting county water. We're on county water, which is great. However, we were out of water for over two weeks when Hurricane Katrina hit. Now, they say they have a back up generator and we shouldn't be without water if another catastrophe hits. Having our own well would have been nice to fall back on during that time.

[Wendy]

Hauling was costing us $30 for 1,100 gallons. He is raising his prices because of fuel. Funny thing is, he raised them the last time fuel hit $4.00 a gallon, but never lowered them again when fuel prices dropped, but is now using that to justify another increase. We got a load every week & last year during the drought about every 5 days. This was with limited showering & taking laundry to my mom's. We have a hand dug well & I am sure a lot of the water we put into the well seeped back out, but we had no other place to put it. We thought of putting a cistern but in a year like last we would still be hauling water. It took a day for it to settle down after it was hauled & the constant checking to see how much we have is annoying.
County water is $7.00 per 1,000 gallon for the first 3,000 gallons with that being the minimum charge. After that it is $6.00 per 1,000 gallons for the next 7,000 gallons & after that $5.00 per 1,000 gallons. I have talked with several people on this water & the guy from the water company. Average bill is $45-$50 a month. Last year we spent close to $200 one month because we had to haul some in to water the animals. That was the first time that well ever went dry. We plan on keeping the well at the barn for the animals to save on our bill, but at least we will have county water if we need it for them.
I would love to have a well also, but we tried to dig one & they hit rock. When the hand wells were dug & they hit rock, they would chop through it or blast through it. They can't do that now. They also can't dig in an existing well which I think is dumb. Not sure why they couldn't just re-dig the well we had & then put the casing & stuff as they normally would. Our hand dug well by the house is about 25-30 feet deep. The one at the barn is also hand dug & is about 20-25 feet deep. They hit rock at 15 feet.
The town nearby us gets their water from a resovoir. Our water is coming from an underground aquifor & is very good water. Better than fish water anyway!

[6e]

Ohhh, I feel for you! We had been hauling water for going on 7 years come May. We didn't have it hauled in, we hauled it in. It takes a huge chunk out of your life and you're always worrying about how much water you have left before you can do this or that. We just got rural water put in and I am SO happy that I can do whatever I want, like a load of laundry, and not have to worry about whether or not we have the water for it!!

[Wendy]

If you've never had to haul water, you have no idea what an annoyance it is. Work outside in the heat all day & then find out you don't have enough water to shower. Run out of water while doing laundry or worse yet, taking a shower. We rented here for years & didn't have a choice. Now that we own it, we have been working on getting this done.

[6e]

Originally Posted by Wendy

If you've never had to haul water, you have no idea what an annoyance it is. Work outside in the heat all day & then find out you don't have enough water to shower. Run out of water while doing laundry or worse yet, taking a shower. We rented here for years & didn't have a choice. Now that we own it, we have been working on getting this done.

Oh yeah I know! What most people take for granted, you have to ask, "Do we have enough water to wash dishes?" LOL and laundry piles up because it's almost impossible to haul enough water to keep up with 4 little kids. LOL And we usually lost our garden every year around July/August because you can't haul enough water to water a garden with. I'm excited this year we MIGHT actually keep a garden alive. My worst enemy now is the bunnies. LOL

[fordy]

................Can you still drill a water well ? I would rather have a water well if possible , but maybe that wasn't in your budget . , fordy

[Macybaby]

People get very excited to get hooked up to the county water system where I live too. When we moved to the area, I was disapointed our house was hooked up and the well wasn't being used anymore.

Then I found out the well water isn't very good (high sulfur and other stuff) around here. There is plenty of it, so many use it for livestock and other things, but not for household use. Those not on county water use well water for bathing, cleaning and toilet use, but take thier clothes to the laundramat and use bottled water for drinking and cooking.

I want to get our well working for emergency and garden use - won't be dependent on electricity though. Sure is nice having a system that is not dependent on having the electricity working. That was always the biggest problem when we had a well - the electricty would go out and we'd have no water. At least here in SD, when all the power lines went down in an ice storm, they brought in big generators to keep the system well working, so though we had no electricity for ten days, we always had water.

[6e]

Around here you're lucky if you hit water and if you do, it's either nasty water or hardly any that soon runs out. Most of the people around us that had water, pumped out of their ponds. Our rural water ain't cheap, but at the price of gas, it's still cheaper than hauling. I think we had the same problem with rock. We hit rock at 6'.

[Fae]

We also have county or whatever it is, water but, we still have our well. We use it for garden and whatever outside. I refuse to drink chlorine so I have an under sink water filter with it's own faucet. It sure would beat hauling it though.

[Lizza]

How wonderful Wendy!!! I remember when you were having all your problems getting your line put in. Congratulations!

[Michael W. Smith]

How old is the water processing plant where the water comes from?

My sister's who live in town, have been getting water from the water plant that is over 100 years old. Last year they started building a brand new state of the art water plant, and the water rates have now skyrocketed.

Water department says the past years of low water bills - everyone was getting a deal. Now with the state of the art new plant, and the water company now being in debt for $ millions, water rates had to go up.

I'm SO glad I live out in the country and have a well!

[Wendy]

The water company is probably 15 years old. It is member owned & not for profit. We have to pay a one time membership fee of $100. I would love to have a good well. I will probably still go to my mom & dad's & get my drinking water form their well.