WATER: Domestic Tap vs. Pasture Tap

Thanks this is exactly the type of helpful information I was looking for.

Another thing to consider when you are deciding whether to drill a well or hook up to water: How far is it from the water line to where you may want to put the house. On 80 acres you could be looking at many hundreds or even thousands of feet of water line. And remember as the distance goes up the required diameter goes up as well. That will add considerable expense. Depending on how deep wells need to be in your area, the well might be cheaper.

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^^Good points to consider, thank you.^^

Right now we are leaning towards wanting to build near the original homesite ... and that is close to the old well

The water tap lines would be clear over the other side of the property ... so lots and lots and lots of pipe ... lots and lots

Now I am kinda thinking maybe we should go ahead and re-drill the well PLUS get that pasture tap cause it'll sure come in handy as a supplemental source of water ... we can always haul water for drinking and whatnot, can't we?

I've heard of people "hauling" water all the time ... suppose that is something else I'll need to educate myself about before we make the jump to the land.

So ... between the pasture tap, rainwater collection and well water we ought to be sitting fairly perty, huh?

I so 'cited!

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I LOVE DONUT BALLS

i dont like to think tooo much before i speak ... heehee ... i like to be just as surprised as you are.

I've been chewing the gristle in Yvonne's Hubby's posts, and I am wondering if maybe he was being facetious, sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek for a reason ... ?

(He might have been saying in a roundabout way: "I dodge red-tape all the time, but I'd NEVER admit it outright" or something along those lines.)

We are new here, Papa, and we don't know everybody's written personalities yet.

I know forum communication is awkward, especially for you, but be patient because it'll be worth it

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I LOVE DONUT BALLS

i dont like to think tooo much before i speak ... heehee ... i like to be just as surprised as you are.

sounds like he learned where the phrase colder than a well diggers backside came from

Ah, but can you live there legally without one?

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Moms don't look at things like normal people.
-----DD

Either in Texas or in Oklahoma you sure can. If you have 80 acres you will find that you can do just about anything you want. Until you hook up to city water then you will have to have an inspection and if it isn't up to their standards you will not get water. The same goes for any utilities. They all have their own requirements and you need to obey them or you will not have that utilities.

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God must have loved stupid people because he made so many of them.

Went to remodel a bathroom for someone in an old house near here. I mentioned with the older plumbing it probably was a good idea to clean out the septic tank if it hadn't been done. They said they had never messed with it. Went looking for the tank, followed the 3" line for a couple hundred yards down to the woods where it emptied out into a low place. Worked for all these years and never needed cleaning! Didn't smell either from what I remember.

You can live anywhere legally without a septic system if ya keep yer mouth shut!

Well, you can live anywhere without a septic system if ya keep yer mouth shut, but lets not get to braggy about how legal it is.

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"Nothing so needs reforming as other peoples habits." Mark Twain

Ya know, that was 5 years ago and as far as I know still no septic tank!

Glad I'm not drinking water downhill from their (or anybody else's) open sewer pipe. I might switch to bottled in VA or TX if I'm passin through.

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"Only the rocks [and really embarassing moments] live forever"

"When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands..." tick-tick-tick

Whoa whoa whoa ... please don't get the wrong impression here.

We aren't planning on running our sewage/waste onto open ground ... we want simple, yes, but we're not filthy or inconsiderate.

Just because we want to try to avoid a whole lot of interference and inspections doesn't mean we plan on disregarding common sense and health matters.

Composting toilets, if implemented correctly, are not unsanitary at all.

However, with that said, we are actually looking into a portable septic tank ... one that we can haul off and dispose of in town for a nominal fee (a suggestion made by my uncle who works for a local rural water company here in the Abilene area, and he will be doing all of the plumbing for us.)

This thread is mainly about water issues ... domestic tap or pasture tap ... and, a domestic tap REQUIRES an approved septic system.

I honestly think we will have plenty of water between the pasture tap, the rainwater collection, and the (re-drilled) well ... especially if we have a greywater system to supplement garden/yard irrigation.

We want to build as cheap and creatively as possible ... as basic and natural as possible ... as free and independent as possible.

Thank you for all the input here ... love it!

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I LOVE DONUT BALLS

i dont like to think tooo much before i speak ... heehee ... i like to be just as surprised as you are.

Do you know for sure what is wrong with the old well?

Other than the fact that the land has been vacant since 1956, and the old windmill has collapsed and rotted away:

No sir, I do not know for sure if anything is wrong with the old well.

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I LOVE DONUT BALLS

i dont like to think tooo much before i speak ... heehee ... i like to be just as surprised as you are.

If you decide to use the old well, the first thing you need to do after getting it working is get a sample of water and have it professionally (send it to a lab) tested for more than just bacteria and hardness.

There are lots of things in ground water that will make you sick or sicken small children and you want to know from the get-go how clean & pure your water is.

For example:

Our old house has an old well that yields nice water that is at the legal limit for Nitrates & Nitrites. Drinking water with Nitrates and Nitrites is especially dangerous for babies, toddlers and small children because it affects the level of oxygen in their blood. Some studies indicate that pregnant mothers that drink water high in nitrate/nitrites are more likely to have babies with birth defects and nursing moms who drink water high in nitrates/nitrites produce milk with higher levels of nitrates/nitrites. A few studies seem to indicate that long term ingestion of water high in nitrates/nitrites might be linked to some kinds of cancer.

We don't have children and rarely have them as guest so that isn't an issue, but after considering our options we decided NOT to drink the well water.

deb
in wi

Nobody dropped a rock down the well to see if there was water?

No sir.

We haven't visited the land in over three years, but are planning a trip next month ... I'll be sure to drop a rock down in there and let you know what I hear (if anything.)

Plus, I'll be taking pictures of the abandoned graveyard to share here, too.

I'm so 'cited!

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I LOVE DONUT BALLS

i dont like to think tooo much before i speak ... heehee ... i like to be just as surprised as you are.

I hope I can find the hole ... surely there is still a hole ...

__________________
I LOVE DONUT BALLS

i dont like to think tooo much before i speak ... heehee ... i like to be just as surprised as you are.