Water Meters on Wells: Pennsylvanians only

[rocky2]

I heard that too, so I read the legislation and couldn't find anything on meters on private wells. In PA the well driller has to register his rig, if he has 5 rigs, all have to be registered. But it's not mandatory to resister every well drilled. I know because I checked with the DEP and they only have info on the one water well on my property.

 

[dmccarty]

Roy,

There is a county in eastern NC, I think its the county where
Willmington resides, where a COMPANY owns all the
underground water! The state passed a law 60-70 years ago
that gave the water to the company. I'm not sure how wells
are paid for, by the landowner or the company, but I think
you have to pay the company for water drawn from wells.

Maybe someone else from NC can clarify my memory. Its a
wierd situation.

Later,
Dan McCarty

 

[tdenny]

Roy,

They are mumbling about doing something like that around here (Seattle). That way they can monitor the groundwater use and most likely come up with a way to generate revenues from it./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif An excise tax for water usage on wells. /w3tcompact/icons/mad.gif Wow. At least that's what they are saying. I don't know any specifics but I can tell you they are serious.

 

[gerard]

<font color=blue>Anybody been following the Bass brothers buy up of water rights around the country? Those guys know what's happening, we're fixing to reach the end of cheap water.</font color=blue>
Seems to me they tried doing the same thing to silver a few years backand took a beating............/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[karmakanic]

That was the Hunt brothers. The Bass brothers, along with having a passel of money, actually have a little sense.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

There's a common saying around here in norte tejas about the next war is going to over water.

In 69 I was working in Joshua Tree California. Three things I remember about that two months. First and foremost is you can ride a motorcycle up a sand dune cliff that you can't grow the whatevers to ride down.

The other two was learned from an old man that lived in the motel we stayed at. I'd learned that he owned tons of property and you had to have owner's permission to ride a dirt bike on open land. So I became his bud. Slutty of me I know but you have to understand riding motorcycles in the desert is a thing thing. It'll turn you slutty if you're not careful.

He explained to me how crazy people are. They come to the desert because it's so dry and they can breathe. So the first thing they do is put in all this lawn and a sprinkler system. Doh!

Then he told me to be careful when hauling butt across the desert cause he had a well out there that would hurt me something fierce if'n I hit it. All it was was a piece of pipe sticking up out of the ground with a cap welded on it.

It seems he'd wanted to build this development out there. So he dug hisself a well. Company came in and dug it for him deep and good. When they were done this fella from the water district showed up. Said they were gonna put a meter on it for him or he could cap it. He capped it.

In Texas a company like Ozarka can come in a dig a well and drain the water table and there isn't much one can do. They own the land or buy the right to mine the water from a property owner and you're stuck.

But in California they have water districts. The water belongs to the community in a co op kinda situation. The shares are distributed on a per acre basis. So if you're a farmer raising alfalfa which uses tons of water you get so many shares because of your acreage. But once it's gone you either have to buy it from the district at their rate or buy more shares from you neighbor who isn't using all his shares.

The concept of your land your water sounds great except under certain circumstances. Then under those circumstances one has to balance out the rights of the individual versus the rights of the community.

Again, a good example is Ozarka. They came in and drilled this humungus well and are pulling out millions of gallons of water to be bottled and retailed to city folks and or country folks. All the locals by the well are gonna see their wells dry up. They still own the water under their land. They've just got to dig deeper for it.

 

[gerard]

kartmaniac,
you are of course correct, my mistake - it's tough gettin' old, first it's the memory, then its the, uh, the, uh, well you get the idea...........

 

[RoyJackson]

"They are mumbling about doing something like that around here (Seattle). "

Then be proactive.. Call your local representative and make your views known to him or her. Get your neighbors to do the same.
The sooner this kind of nonsense is squelched, the easier it is to do so.

 

[Steelfan]

Hi Roy, About 2 weeks ago, the local newspaper had a "letter to the editor" in it about metering wells in Pa. My In-laws came down to my house to get on the net to check it out. My Father in-law and I couldn't find a thing on the Pa Legislative Website. The next day there was an article in the newspaper saying it wasn't true. I just don't like anyone even thinking about such a thing. I've got a lot of money invested in my wells. Who's going to pay me back for that if I've got to start paying for water? Here's the website to check out.
www.legislstate.pa.us
I did a search for well water on that page.
Kent