Thoughts About Water

Back again after a few days' hiatus. We had a couple more developments.


The Roadway

I met again with my neighbor the excavator, and he went over in more detail his plan to straighten out our access road, create better drainage to avoid erosion, and raise the level a bit in a low spot to avoid problems in the winter. He also will create a temporary access area for construction and delivery vehicles at the construction site. Last night, per his request, I dug out some Plat diagrams of the placement of the gas wells and lines in relation to the road; we don't want any unpleasant surprises on that front.... Our plan is to start this phase relatively soon; if we're shooting for a dig date in March for the house then I'd like this done well before Winter arrives.

Here's the entrance to the road:



Here's some of the erosion that we need to eliminate when the road is redone. Right now you need the clearance of an SUV to drive down here; this is about the worst section of the road:



A Water Source

Now I'd pretty much resigned myself to the idea of digging a well for our water supply; being more than a half mile from the city water line seems a bit far to run a water line. As I was talking to Tom about moving some trees to clear away a potential drilling site, he came up with another idea which I found intriguing - using a spring as our water source.

We have a spring on the farm surrounded by the remnants of an old spring house. When I was a kid we used to drink from there and used it to cool off watermelons in the Summer. I can never remember it going dry either. Tom thought we might set up a collection area along with a storage tank and then pump the water to the house. I immediately started researching the idea online to educate myself, at least a little. Here's a shot of the spring:


The pros - 1) I like the idea of using what is already available and it appeals to the sentimental side of me by taking advantage of what my parents set up for us when they bought the farm. 2) We would also not have a water bill. 3) This approach might cost less than drilling a well.

The cons - 1) The spring is the primary source of water for our pond; I don't want to lower the water levels by taking too much water. Statistics say that a family of 4 can use 400 gallons a day; there's only the 2 of us. If we have even a minimal water flow from the spring of 1.5 gal per minute, that's over 2,000 gallons per day produced. 2) Water quality - since it's an open air spring, it could be contaminated by surface runoff, animals, people, etc. We currently use bottled water for drinking and some cooking, and are happy with the arrangement. It would still be a good idea to get the water tested though. 3) The logistics of pumping water close to 1,000 feet away and perhaps 50 feet in elevation. The amount of pumping schemes online are dizzying. There are a number of solar powered pumps which seemed cool, but I'm not sure if that would work here in PA.

Anyway, those are some of the issues we're tossing around. Until next time....