Has anyone in the group experience of water extraction from a bore hole and the costs involved? Apparently you no longer need a licence if you are drawing less than 20 cu metres per day. I use about 8 cu metres a day in one of my premises and just having paid the £1200 quarterly water bill it's set me thinking of alternatives.
AWEM
We have a well which supplies all our water. Do you have any specific questions?
licence
specific
Cost of producing a bore hole really was the main thing
AWEM
No first hand experience, but our neighbours had one drilled a few years back, and that was around £4000.
I'd like to know if the law refers to rivers too, as I'd like to use the one at the bottom of my garden... Anyone know the relevant ruling/legislation/law, etc. in it all?
Cheers,
Gordon
HI Both
Same here.....
Adrian Suffolk UK ======return email munged================= take out the papers and the trash to reply
I have a feeling that, technically, the water in rivers is 'owned' by whichever water company covers your area - in my case Severn Trent. I presume that you would have to negotiate with them. There's no guarantee that it would be drinking quality, of course - what do you want to use it for?
What is the ground? Different techniques/depths apply, therefore costs. FWIW about 12 years ago a borehole in granite (100'? 100m? Can't remember) was £3,500 including ancillary equipment, but not connection to the domestic supply. Connection was simple. The pump has gone once, and the pressure vessel once.
I used to rent a cottage with a bore hole and pumped water - float valve in ee header tank, and electric pump.
IIRC the environmental health came round every year to check bug content, and that was it. We had a septic tank as well..so no idea what, if anything, the landlord paid for water.
The borehole fed hos potato watering equiment as ell. He used to long for a drought 'the other buggers will pay a fortune to irrigate this year: Price of tatties will be sky high.'
It's into the London artesian basin, so I would expect clays, chalks, and gravels
AWEM
Try
Details here
Peter Crosland
The message from "Andrew Mawson" contains these words:
Presumeably you'd still have to pay waste treatment charges - or was that £1200 just for metered water supply?
Didn't know that. I've got a spring on my land, unfortunately it's the other side of the road from the house.
Yup. Drilled a 20m borehole in limestone in Ireland about 8 years ago, cost about IRP1200 AFAIR. Suitable Grundfos pump was about URP400 I think. Might be more expensive in the UK ours was a while ago, so I'm not sure it's much use to you. It will depend on how deep you need to go and probably the rock type. Does anyone else nearby you have one that might give you a clue? Then (at the risk of starting a contentious thread!) there are always water diviners.....
We also made a bit of a well last year as a sort of by-product of building the swimming pool . The ground water kept filling the bottom of the hole so we excavated an extra channel underneath, put in a land drain pipe surrounded by gravel and built the pool on top. The we built a vertical chamber to the side of the pool from which to pump the water. The hole is only about 2.5 - 3m deep. We use an ordinary inexpensive pump, friends of our bought a similar one in Lidl for 20 quid or so, operates on a float switch. Initially it was just to keep the excavation clear of water during construction but can now be used to top up the pool if we want to.
So..... IF you happen to have water near enough to the surface you could probably DIY it. We had another house with a shallow well of about
3m once too.
Can't comment on that, don't know. .
HTH
-- Holly, in France Gite to let in Dordogne, now with pool.
Sheep will go to great lengths to find new and disgusting ways to die. Even if that involves flying over several fields and crash landing in a river.
Yes waste plus water
AWEM
The message from Nigel Molesworth contains these words:
I thought that was Americans in Harriers?
Water abstraction from ground or river is governed by the Environment Agency. Have a look at their web site or give their local area office a ring. You're right that there is a minimum quantity below which you don't need a licence. I'm not sure what the figure is as our borehole is well above it. Things to consider are: water quality if it's for drinking Allow for a replacement pump on a regular basis. Ours last 10 years but we're pumping 18 hours a day. You will need a contingency plan for when your pump or electrics fail. Your existing supply could suffice here. There's more info here:
Fantastic! Thanks!
And FWIW: I'm not (initally!) considering drinking the stuff - my garden is somewhat detatched from the house, and although there is a standpipe about halfway and we have a hose for the rest, it's nice to know there is an alternative (even if it does mean walking down with a bucket!)
This particular river (locally it's called a burn, but it's bigger than a stream!) is on the boundary of Dartmoor National Park, so I'm sure they'd have something to say about it too. (Although it appears to me that I am the riparian rights owner, but I suspect I'd need to do more legwork to find out for sure - there is a wall and my garden is somewhat elevated above the river - the gardens were originaly used for wool washing in times gone by!)
As for drinking, well, I've done a lot of walking on Dartmoor and drank from many of its rivers and streams, same for the hills and mountians of Scotland - hasn't done me any harm so-far, and the occasional dead sheep just upstream (I've seen a few!) add to the flavour ;-) When it's not raining (hard) the water flows nice and clear, but when it rains on Dartmoor, it's dark! I live in the 2nd wettest town in Devon...
There is also a well somewhere either on my property, or on the shared access through the other houses neighbouring which I haven't found yet, (mentioned in the deeds that I have access to it, but no location given!) but I intend to have a good look for it with a set of dowsing rods this summer. It's more than likely covered over with an apple tree growing over it, but it'd be good to find it and see if the water is still potable, I think.
Thanks,
Gordon
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