There are times when I feel ridiculously behind the ball with how much more I still have to learn. How very “city” I still am. Other times I am impressed by how capable I am, and just how much that I can do compared to a short while ago, in terms of providing for my own needs rather than relying on service providers to meet those needs. Other times still, the two occur within a remarkably short period, hours even.
When we discovered that we had no running water my initial instinct was to pick up the phone, to check for a message from the city regarding water interruptions. Of course there is no “city”, the closest one being four hours away, and we don’t have water service, we have a well. Uh oh. For all my research and studying, I have to admit to knowing relatively little about our well, the pump, and so on- and I understand even less than that.
Shane and I stood and looked at the set-up in the basement, making serious faces at each other while I flipped through the wholly inadequate Grundfos instruction ‘manual’. Not much of a manual in my opinion. Certainly far from the crash course we need. So we called a plumber, who’s not really a full-time ‘plumber’ but the closest we have to one in these parts. Turns out he’s no longer plumbing but he recommended a guy who runs a back hoe service who “knows a lot about these things”. He came out later in the day after warning us that he doesn’t know a lot about these fancy new electronic systems. (Here’s another bit of city in me- what else is there, other than electronic systems? Are people lowering buckets into wells, or is there some kind of literal horse power version that I don’t know about?) Long story short- he couldn’t figure it out so suggested yet another guy who’s not really a plumber but kind of, who turned out to be on vacation but will send his son out when he returns to town, also not really a plumber but ‘may’ be able to help. Oh my. And we’re no closer to knowing what the heck is wrong.
If this problem had presented in the city, I would be flipping mad. I have never much cared how much a service costs me so much as I have that the job is done, and fast. I can’t imagine how I’d have reacted to being told that ‘some time in the next week, someone may be by who may know something about your problem’. I’d have also already booked us into a hotel. How is a person to survive without water? There are dishes to be done, cooking, cleaning, showering- never mind the matter of using the toilet…
I tell you what- having no well water has not slowed me down one little bit, save for the fact that I’m not building right now. But all of the ‘regular’ things that a person needs water for? No problem. We have a large cistern that is always overflowing with rainwater. It’s hooked to the shop roof, so a very little bit of rainfall goes a long way to filling the container. I hauled water yesterday in the buckets we’ve been collecting from a grocery store to use for food storage. It was pouring rain (Murphy’s law) but I have to say- I had a blast! Now if you’ve hauled water all your life, maybe the chore isn’t all that much fun but I have never had to haul water before and the novelty is fresh. I felt like a real pioneer, or as close to one as I get, and it was a ton of fun!
Once I’d filled a dozen buckets or so, I heated some for dishes and for washing up. Got some weeding done, picked a bunch of pin cherries I later used for apple/cherry crisp, cleaned the house and prepared supper. All in all it was a very productive day and I quite enjoyed myself. Far cry from the irritable mess I’d have been in the city.
One key design feature that really helps to pull us through this sort of situation, apart from the lovely rainwater collection, is the humanure system that we use. It’s one thing to be without water for washing and cooking and entirely another situation to have no toilet. (And I have to say- I’d feel utterly wasteful to be using our nice, fresh rainwater to flush our toilet.) As luck would have it, we haven’t been dependent on water for toilet facilities for quite some time. Our humanure system works well all the time, so that was a non-issue.
We do have inefficiencies in the system though, or at least a lack of redundancies, and this experience is useful to us in that we can better plan and design for our needs. One thing I’d really like to have in place is an even larger, underground storage tank for our rainwater harvest. Next year we’ll have to focus in on that, and a line running to the new house. It seems to be an instrument problem that we’re dealing with right now (possibly due to the power surges we had last week) but down the road it could be anything- including the scary possibility that the well will run dry. And even if ‘all goes well’, honestly- I’d rather use rainwater as our primary water source. Our well water is fine for most things but I won’t drink it. Too salty and iron-y. I’d rather bathe in rainwater too.
All in all, I’m feeling pretty good about the situation we find ourselves in. Sure we’re a long way off from being the self-sufficient pioneers we would like to be, but overall we’re not too badly off. And I, for one, am pretty happy to have left behind not only some of my woeful inexperience and dependency in the city but also my bad attitude. 🙂
We lived with no running water for the majority of 8 months. The novelty wears off somewhat. We only had a large barrel for rain water and the collection was done manually by placing buckets along the drip line of the roof then dumping them in the barrel. We got pretty low a few times near the end of the summer.
It was a neat experience. Most people we talked to about it didn’t get it. Just said they couldn’t live that way.
Good luck finding a plumber and getting the well fixed. It might be handy eventually 🙂
Wow- well that’s tougher work than we’re facing. (I should probably knock wood now.) We’re lucky that the size of the shop roof is large enough to fill our cistern in pretty short order. The cistern will hold 1400 gallons and with a 2000 square foot roof (just the east side we’re collecting from) we can get 1246 gallons from an inch of rain. I’d like to collect water from the west side of the building next year and channel it to an underground cistern. We’ll see, so many projects… And yes, I certainly do hope that the well is fixed- at least this year when our options are limited. Come winter, there’ll be no hauling water! 🙂
I like your rainwater collection cistern. I thought about picking up one of those spa-in-a-box gizmo’s for bathing from the Depot. I too would like to try bathing in rainwater or even having the thing set up on the deck for when its hot. (Not sure if you would add anything in with the rainwater) Is the water clean straight from the heavens? In S.Mb its been wicked hot of late and it would be a nice thing to have around. Have you any more written about this particular cistern set-up on your blog anywhere? Thanx .always look forward to the posts.
I haven’t written about the cistern but probably should given how important it’s been to us this year, not just during this situation but for watering our gardens. (Our well water isn’t good for the plants.) We have a single screen for bigger debris but no other filter. The water looks perfectly clear. Plenty good for bathing. We’ll work on an outdoor shower set-up next year when we have more time and I can hardly wait! 🙂
We had a similar experience when we first moved to our acreage. There’s always ‘some guy’, isn’t there? Good for you for just carrying on 🙂
There is always ‘some guy’! Kind of like Mexico that way (“I have a cousin…”). 🙂
Hi,
I live in the boonies of Panama and have a well, but collect water from the roof most of the year.
I have an electric pump for my well which is 36′ deep. Last year it stopped working and i looked to make sure all the electrical connections were tight and they were. It is set up so I can prime the PVC coming from the well if air should enter some way. No air. As a last resort I hit the housing of the pump with a hammer and wa-la…water. Actually sometimes when they haven’t been ‘on’ for a while, they can get a bit stuck, but it sounds like you were using yours. Do you have sensors in your well for feedback for water level?
Probably not the advice you want to hear, but it worked for me.
I’m not a plumber, but I saw one on TV. Actually, my (ex) husband is a master plumber, so I know enough to be dangerous….
I do quite like the idea of taking a hammer to something… 😉 We do have a sensor, from what I’m hearing it may be the computer itself causing issues. But still no idea, and still no plumber…
I grew up hauling water up from a creek … makes me appreciate running water, and know not to waste it. I got the biggest shock of my at-the-time young life when I moved to the city and saw someone running the tap all the time they were cleaning their teeth. Talk about culture shock!
The first thing I do when I go to the city now is guzzle tap water. Freaking fantastic that you can get totally potable water from a tap! I’m getting used to the rainwater though and I have to say- it tastes a helluva lot better than our well water.