Water ... Sanitation... Electricity ... Roads
(Page 2 of 3)
March/April 1970
By the Mother Earth News editors
WHEN we bought our house in the country the water, sewage, electricity, and driveway were supposedly all finished. They looked all right to us. But we've had to spend additional money on all four.
RELATED CONTENT
Our main expense was the need to rebuild our sewage system - the builder had installed a minimum amount of drainage pipe and no siphon discharge system. We've also piped water to our barn and to our concrete pig pen. It was an easy job to wire our barn with electricity.
We've had to add more fill and build an edging to our driveway. In short, we've found that knowing a little about country water supply, sewage, electricity, and road building is most worthwhile.
If you are used to city water service, you probably think it means an awful lot of expense and trouble to have your own rural water supply. The expense of digging a well is uncertain because you can't be absolutely sure how deep you will have to go. Still there are a lot of people living within 100 feet of a town water main who find it is less expensive to dig their own wells than to buy water from the city. One man I know, who is now building a house in town, has discovered that installing city water will cost him about $300. On top of this he will have to pay a water bill of about $25.00 a year. He figured up this bill for a period of ten years ($250) and added it to the $300 he would pay for installing the city water, getting a total of $550. When he compared this cost with that of drilling a good Artesian well 100 feet deep and putting in his own electric shallow well pumping system, he found that the city water over a 10 year period would cost him $50 more . . . And in 20 years this city water would cost $260 more. In 30 years he could install an entire new pump and tank and still beat the cost of city water for this period by $400!
As you can see, your well may cost you anywhere between $175 and $1,050. About the only way to predict this cost is to find out how deep your neighbors had to dig their wells. Unless there is something unusual about your situation, you will probably have to go to the same depth. Be sure to have your well water tested for purity. The Health Department will make this test free in most states.
We've discussed a few of the many ways you can obtain water in the country. There's probably one combination just right for your circumstances.
