Rural water vs well - what am I missing?

[txdon]

I had the same choice 15 years ago and went with rural water. The well would have cost between 5-7K and the water would have iron in it. #1 priority was quality. My Dad has both, using his well only for irrigation keeping the iron it out of the fixtures and shower. High metals in water may have some health issues involved, may want to check out the suspected causes of Alzheimer's disease.

 

[dmccarty]

I am so glad we have a well vs "city" water. When we lived in the city, the water tasted horrible because of all of the chemicals used to clean up the water. At work, when I flush the toilet, it eventually makes it way to a lake after being treated. The city I used to live in pulled water out of that lake. Yes, I know the water was treated and "safe" but the water tasted bad from the chemicals.

None of my neighbors drilled a dry well. Some don't about 5 GPM which is enough if you have 200-300 feet of 6 inch pipe. We do have high mineral content and I guess one day I will have to do something about it. The cost of the well pump, pressure tank, and treatment is on the home owner which can be a pain but at least my water tasted good and does not have any chemicals. I have tested for some, it costs way to much to test for all chemicals, and given our location the chance of their being a problem with our water is pretty much zero.

When we lived in the city we were spending somewhere around $50-125 a month on water and sewer. This was almost entirely household use with minimal water for a very small veggie garden and some landscaping. The lower price was after we bought a front loading washer but that is still at least $600 a year best case and this was almost a decade ago. I know the cost would be higher to day because of rate increases and tiered pricing that went into effect after we left. The cost to run or replacement the pump or pressure tank in my well is not going to increase as much as the rate increases back in the city. Those city rates have already increased and will continue to do so.

A town in our county has a water system that was designed to supply water for a meat processing company. That company went out of business which has really hurt the local economy. The citizens of the town are now having to pay more property taxes to make up for the lost revenue from the company but also higher water rates. The treatment plant is a fixed cost and it can't be made to run cheaper. With the company gone, the town has to find the money to run the treatment plant which means water rates went up.

A well is yours and you have to pay to run it and fix it. Over decades, will the cost of running the well increase faster than the rural water supply cost?
Would your well water stay clean? Is there fuel storage or some point of pollution that might hit the well in the area?

I don't think you have perfect information to answer those questions and it is a bit of a gamble. I would rather have well water myself. Frankly, if I had my way I would rather harvest rain water for drinking but that is a different topic. :laughing::laughing::laughing: But since you are harvesting rain water, even in a power outage that took out the well pump, you have water to flush toilets and take a bath. Worst case you might have to boil drinking water.

Later,
Dan

 

[hogheadCTD]

$30 a foot is "par for the course" rate for drilling in Iowa. Id expect to drill 300'. I have a well, its around 196' deep. Our water smells due to sulfur and we get manganese particles. Its about $4K to purchase a water softner and iron filter to get the smell out. Who is the rural water supplier? Central Iowa or Xenia?

 

[Danno1]

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Around here "city" water is charged $x per gallon for the water and $x+ per gallon for sewer. Now there's no meter on your waste lines so if you're irrigating you're still paying that sewer charge for water that's not going to the treatment plant. Which is more than the actual cost of the water itself!



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[JRobyn]

Lots of good and accurate info here. We had the same dilemma about 6-7 years ago when we were preparing to build. To run water from the utility district would be spendy because we would need approx. 2000 ft of line that would require rock sawing to install. From neighbors we knew that local wells would be about 100-200ft, would be very low flow, and likely to be sulpherous. I really wanted a well for all the reasons that folks on here have mentioned. We figured a well would be about $5k. Running the utility line would be almost $20k. We had the benefit that the local utility water is sourced from a local river that is clean and good tasting. We wound up going with the utility water and have been VERY glad we did. Our water is excellent tasting, plentiful, and inexpensive. The house is 90ft in elevation below the tap to the utility line, so we have a lot of emergency, gravity flow storage (2 inch lines).

Wife's brother built a huge gorgeous log house a stone's throw from ours and went with the well option. He has so far drilled 2 dry holes, now has 2 more very low flow holes, plus all manner of pumps, low-flow pump controls, storage, and treatment equipment for sulphur. Probably well over $20k. And with all that, he still has to religiously conserve water to not run out. Occasionally, he has trucked 500gal tanks from us!

 

[greasemonkeyok]

I'd read and get familiar with the information on this site first:
Well Forecasting and Aquifers in Iowa

Also, if your use of the water is considered commercial rather than domestic, you may have different rules and permitting requirements.

 

[deezler]

I can't wait to build our home and get a well installed. You can easily deal with the water quality, if it's even an issue.

Municipal water has chlorine (or chloride) and flouride added to it! Chlorine kills cells. That's what it is in there to do, kill bacteria and microbes. You think it doesn't also kill cells in your digestive tract? Flouride for protecting your teeth, added against your will in your drinking water? Ridiculous! I can't wait to stop showering in poisonous water. We already switched to purified drinking water to stop drinking the disgusting municipal water supply here.

 

[Stimw]

I have a well (actually 2 wells counting the one for the garden), after living in the city for 22 years with municipal water AND $40. average a month for it.
I can run my hose or sink tap or shower as long as I want for pennies for the pump motor. Why would I want to go back to metered water????
I do have iron but my water softener deals with it very well and I use a carbon whole house filter and my water tastes GREAT!
I would shop the drilling price and go with that. You can always go with metered water as a last resort.

 

[soilsailor]

Ok, I knew I'd get lot's of good info - thanks all for your well informed (no pun intended) thoughts.

Looks like I have some more homework to do. Rather then respond to everyone's specific questions - let me just say that I'll report back when I have more concrete numbers on the well option.

I would like to say to hogheadCTD - the water district is Central Iowa Water Association. If it were Xenia, I wouldn't even consider rural water - with the massive over-expansion they did a couple of years back and the resulting rate increases that they've put on their members, I wouldn't touch them with a 10' pole.

BTW - I grew up north of Shell Rock. My parents are from Fertile and Britt. I have one living grandmother still living in Fertile, she turns 99 tomorrow. I'm currently living in Ames until we build the house, just east of Nevada.

More soon.
Rick

 

[KYErik]

Last fall was really dry in most places. You mentioned that your creek dried up in October, but is there a reasonable chance that your creek flows year round during most years? If so, use the creek water for irrigation and get the rural water for household use (and for emergency irrigation). You mentioned that $21 is the minimum bill for rural water- what is the rate per 1000 gallons? Around here $25 is the minimum bill but you get the first 2000 gallons "free" and then it is about $5 for each additional 1000 gallons.

Also factor in the possible expense of replacing the deep well pump every 10-15 years. Those big deep well pumps aren't cheap, they use a good deal of power- and they can be a bear to pull out... A $500 pump that lasts 10 years would cost $4.16 per month and that doesn't include the installation charge or electricity to pump the water up out of the ground.

You will still need a pump to draw from the creek- but it should be cheaper and take less power.