creek water for domestic use, any ideas?

[scesnick]

I have crappy well water. It is full of iron and wifey is sick of it. I also have a very nice stream running through my property that feeds the towns resevoir down in the valley. It is super clean water and originates on my property. It has been tested by the town many many times.

I ran a waterline and electric down to the creek last summer (550ft). I planned on putting a 55 gallon drum in the creek and a deep well pump inside that drum and pump the water to the house. I have this system completley installed except my splice in the wire must be bad because I am not getting the proper power. Not a hard fix, just need to dig up the line again.
My question is this, I recently came acrossed a very nice 800 gallon poly tank. I would love to incorporporate this tank into my system. It seems like a great way to keep debris from my pump. Would I be better off to bury this tank and run an inlet and outlet pipe for the water? Or, just sitting this whole tank in the creek and letting the water run into it somehow that way? Or any other suggestion?

I know about the open water for domestic use issue. that is why I am running a UV light when I use this system.

 

[dieselbeef]

why arent you just running a aerator and a softener. if you have the uv and yer fridge has a filter in it yer all set..or even a inline cheap filter from lowes or the depot will filter 5 yrs of water from a spiket

 

[scesnick]

why arent you just running a aerator and a softener. if you have the uv and yer fridge has a filter in it yer all set..or even a inline cheap filter from lowes or the depot will filter 5 yrs of water from a spiket

Oh if it was just that easy...... I have dumped no less than 5k into two different water systems. The work great for about 2 months.

BTW- my well water isn't hard. it is just full of iron.

 

[dieselbeef]

ours has the iron and the sulphur in it..the softener helps the iron content also..our water is really hard...the salt does remove some of the iron...i wouldnt have thought md would have them problems tho...good luck w/ it..

 

[tungularafishcamp]

I don't know about your area but if flooding is a consideration it might be better to bury the tank off the crick a bit and pipe to and from the tank. On my system I just have a piece of pipe with alot of small holes sitting in the spring which I wipe the debris off every so often. You wanna make sure that you pipe the outlet back to the creek. As far as lack of power are you sure you have big enough wire to carry the load 550ft?
good luck
Rick

 

[MossRoad]

Does it freeze there in MD?

 

[LostInTheWoods]

I have crappy well water. It is full of iron and wifey is sick of it. I also have a very nice stream running through my property that feeds the towns resevoir down in the valley. It is super clean water and originates on my property. It has been tested by the town many many times.

Will your local authorities give you any grief about "altering" the waterway leading to the town's reservoir? Some places are more aggressive than others about being touchy-feely on such things.

Something to think about before you drop more $, and someone from the gubbm'nt comes knocking.

 

[scesnick]

Does it freeze there in MD?

I live in the western Md. mountains and it freezes hard. I have seen -20 many times. That is why I was considering burying the tank. The creek water does'nt freeze though. I guess because it originates on my property and is moving pretty fast. But that is why I was thinking of burying the tank.
The thing about burying the tank is that I would have to also bury the inlet line to it and It would have to be below the frost line. This would require ALOT of pipe to get the water to run downhill from a site upstream ( I hope that made some sense)
Unless I dig a REALLY deep hole right beside he creek.

I did use the proper guage wire for for the distance traveled. It cost me a small fortune...

 

[scesnick]

I don't know about your area but if flooding is a consideration it might be better to bury the tank off the crick a bit and pipe to and from the tank. On my system I just have a piece of pipe with alot of small holes sitting in the spring which I wipe the debris off every so often. You wanna make sure that you pipe the outlet back to the creek. As far as lack of power are you sure you have big enough wire to carry the load 550ft?
good luck
Rick

Would you mind describing your system a bit more?

 

[mmurphy]

At 550' of wire to the pump, you probably have severe voltage drop.
You have potential of having nasty viruses coming your way if using it as drinking water. The town would have a treatment plant that would inactivate these critters.
Many options out there for iron removal. Water softeners are not always the best for it. Dissolved oxygen in water will make the iron in to particulates, and that can plug a softener. If iron was not that bad at first, your well may need to be treated for iron bacteria. This bacteria type will not make you sick but just makes a mess.Check with a local water conditioning company for your best options. Let them know out front you are checking with other companys, it keeps them a little more competitive.