question on wells VS very long water line

[YYZedd]

Hello all,

We are about to start building our house which sits about 1000' from the road. We have city water available but are looking into having a well. I am told that the iron content is high in the area but folks on that street were on wells before the city water came in about 7-10 years back.

We are considering a well since a water line from the street back to the house will be very long, cross two creeks (one is rather large) and be in heavily wooded area. The lot is 7 acres and densely wooded except for what we have taken out for the driveway and house. I forsee a lot of problems with 1000+ feet of pipe near all the trees/roots.

Can high iron water be treated at the well/pump somehow to correct this? What are the prolems with high iron content? Is it unhealthy or foul tasting? We will be talking to folks in the business very soon and will get their opinions but I thought I would throw this question out to you guys.

Any input on the water line also appreciated.

Thanks!

[longshot]

iron turns your toilet/ sink/ bathtub brown. it tastes icky. you can add a water softener & purifier to cure it. not a clue what all that would cost , probably a couple grand.

[YYZedd]

The point though is that it can be dealt with which means the well is still an option for us.

Thanks for the input.

[Hershel Roberson]

Talk to your neighbors that have a well. It's really a matter of how much. A water softner will remove small amounts, but you will have to put up with the rest.

We used to have iron from our well (previous house). Every fixture in the house turned dark brown, it stunk, and the water tasted like a rusty pipe. It you have a lot of iron, and use a water softner, the iron will stop up the resin bed on the softner.

I would have been willing to pay some pretty big bucks for city water ! (To start with, I had a $10K well).

-- Hershel

[George]

In most areas you won't have a choice. Once a municipal water system is available you can't drill a well.

[Dan Deckert]

Since you have a road/driveway, why not trench down the side of it and bury the waterline there? I'd go 12" below frost line or at least 3~4' deep. As long as there's no leaks in the line, you 'shouldn't' have a problem with tree roots. As far as treating the water from a well, I believe you'd have to go to a reverse osmosis system to have good water. Add $$$$$ for a whole house system. Frankly, I'd find it hard to believe you could punch a well and treat the water cheaper then you could run the line from the street. Dan

[James]

My situation is entirely different, but I can tell you about underground plastic pipe. We have a cabin in the mountains, at an elevation of 4200 feet. It gets very cold in the winter, and this area is ALL trees.

Our spring is 1200 feet from our cabin, and 300 feet lower in elevation. We had a ditch witch dig a trench three feet deep, and placed plastic pipe (I think it is one inch, not sure). This was put down in 1978, and we have not had a problem ever since. I too worried about tree roots growing into it and I guess it could, but it hasn't ever happened.

Our system has lasted for 28 years. Just something to think about.

Good luck !!

--James--

[Glenn]

I did a large remodel on a house one time that pulled city water over 1500 feet and through a 2 inch plastic. Worked well until a sub dug it up with a backhoe. No one told us it was there. (Out in a back pasture) Two inch will throw a lot of water until you find the cut off. :)

[YYZedd]

Thanks everybody for all the good input. Seems that I have some homework to do. Also, I said "city water" but it is actually county (Henry county, GA), and we are zoned RA if that makes any difference.

[YYZedd]

If anyone is interested, here is a link to some pictures of the project. We are actually getting the gravel driveway finished up this weekend and getting rid of most of the stumps and wood. Some to be buried, some chipped/mulched and some will be cut up for firewood. So I don't have pics of the finished product yet but I will soon.

[StLouisMike]

We had a combination of both of your options. Our well is 400' from the house! We put 3/4" flexible 200 lb psi water line inside of 2" sch 40 pvc and ran it down the side of the road to our home. Here in the St Louis area, code suggests 24" underground. The PVC added $200 to the cost. The sub said that most of the water lines run into homes in the STL area are 3/4" 180 lb psi flexible to the foundation where the copper starts and are connected with no conduit protection. All told, we had the water line installed for about $1,300 which I thought was good.

I could not find any sch 80 1" to run from the well to the house and sch 40 scared me to run without some surrounding protection. We've only been here 6 mos so it's hard to tell how it's going to stand up. Good luck with your project.

[JerryD(upstateNY)]

[Rod & Betty Jo]

Not true at all for anyone who uses much water for small farms, lawns or gardens.....My Dad's shallow well (60ft) has served him well and cheaply (he drove his own sandpoints) on his two acres for over 60 years.....In his great wisdom he sank a extra sandpoint nearly 30 years ago...this spring the original 60yr old pipe finally rusted out so I closed it off and now he only draws 9gal a minute from the "new" sandpoint. As he approaches 90 one might assume his well water did no harm....Not to mention that my small city lot costs considerably more to water for lawn and flowers than his 2 acres.....Rod

[longshot]

how much money are we talking about? city is $20/ month & well is free, but the pump is electric , which cost a few bucks a months I assume, & cost several thousand up front to get started.

[dave]

city water here is $70 a month and sewage is over $100 Greencastle,IN. ten million dollar treatment plants aren't cheap. If I had to hook to city water I'm afraid once the inspections were complete I would have to do a little "midnight digging"

[JerryD(upstateNY)]

Usng an existing well that has good water is much different than spending the money to drill a well today that very well might have iron in it.

[bill allemann]

along with iron, the water often contains sulphur as well. had a place once with this problem (sold it). Toilets, etc would be brown and smelly within hours of cleaning.

[J.C.]

I grew up on a farm with high iron water. I don't remember much about it other than the stains on the sinks and toilet. I do remember that the folks spent a pretty good bit of money on water softeners but I don't remember if that did anything significant.

[Plan Review Section]

George gave you the correct answer. You will have no choice in that you

*will be required* to hook on. And there's often a hefty charge to do so in many parts of the country. (In dryer parts of the country, it's around $6,000 for water/sewer connect.)

Even with municipal water you may still find you need conditioning to remove hard water ions, (water softeners are only good at removing small amounts of clear-water iron, red-water iron almost always requires a special iron filter, as well-as a water softener.)

You could still have a well for landscaping if you wanted, but you would not be permitted to use the water as potable if municipal water is available.

As far as the service line is required, I would go with plastic (PEX or CPVC, PEX is less expensive), and oversize it (you will thank yourself later.) Tree roots should not a problem. You will probably need a licensed plumber to make the municipal connection.

Dennis