I'm looking at buying some property, the only drawback is that there is no water available from drilling. The only alternative is to haul water to the home via truck. Does anybody else do this? If so, how does the above ground tank system work? How do you keep it from freezing in the winter? What about keeping critters out? Thanks.

-- Nik (nik@quadangle.com), April 25, 2002

Answers

I suggest that you try living by hauling all your water for a couple of weeks before you buy that property. I don't think that mere words can properly prepare you for the experience.

-- BC (desertdweller44@yahoo.com), April 25, 2002.

BC, how much water does your family consume? Do you haul your water yourself, or do you have a water hauler bring it in 1000 gallon deliveries?

-- Nik (nik@quadangle.com), April 25, 2002.

I agree with BC, hauling water is an ordeal that you just have to experience to appreciate. I lived that way for years and don't miss it at all. Hot running water still seems like a luxury.

We hauled ours in 55 gallon barrels in the back of our truck. It was a lot of work. The drinking water tastes funny in warm weather if it stands in the barrel too long. Having it delivered would make life much easier. If you're just one person, it might work out. If there is a large family, the water usage and hassles involved make even small chores into major tasks.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), April 25, 2002.

I seem to remember years ago my Aunt in Canada had a summer house on Lake Erie and they had their water brought in to a big holding tank for the house. Now...I don't remember if they also used it for drinking too or not. seem to think they had a "chemical" toilet too. Might call around and see if someone could do this for the household water. Could collect the rain for the garden etc. Maybe a fire company could fill a holding tank for you with clean "city" water. Would have to be a good secure tank for safety I'm sure. You can now fill those really big plastic bottles at Wal-Marts for less then a dollar a bottle. the kind that the Spring water companies use to deliver to your house...maybe have them deliver to you. Hope this gives you some ideas to think about. Good Luck

-- Helena (windyacs@npacc.net), April 25, 2002.

One family I met years ago settled on land without water. For years the husband used to bring water home in barrels, but was finally able to buy a small tanker truck at an auction for cheap. It was still work, but not drudgery.

-- DAsh (forthechix@yahoo.com), April 25, 2002.

built a cistern

-- Jack c (injack1@aol.com), April 25, 2002.

fairly common in some areas. I have a few friends in Montana that have cisterns and have water hauled in by truck. Get's down to -15 a times and no freezing of the water supply. It's not much of a hassle that way but personally I wouldn't want to be without a water source on site and would never buy land I couldn't dig a well on. That'd be a dependency I wouldn't want.

You'd have to heat an above ground tank if you have freezing temps. A solar circulation setup would probably take care of that alot of the time but you'd still need a backup heat source.

-- Dave (multiplierx9@hotmail.com), April 26, 2002.

I had a place in TN that I used a 1000 "water buffaloe" trailer to have water. Swore that I would never do that again if I could help it. The tank furnished our water needs, but we could not get fire insurance and gardening was a difficulty.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), April 26, 2002.

My daughters family has to haul water, they have a trailer with a 500 gal. haul tank, and they have to drive 15 miles to town to get it. They have 2500 underground holding tank with a pump that supplies the house. She has 3 small children and one on the way...and she does most of the hauling. Its just something you get used to, the whole community she lives in does it. You could pay the water haulers to do it for you but it is alot more expensive. She doesn't think its a very big deal....worth the trade off of living out aways.

-- jenny (jsuzuki222@aol.com), April 26, 2002.

My Grand Parents had a cistern before they hand dug a well. They had it setup to where all rain water that ran off their roof was funneled into the cistern through gutters and such.

-- Paul Martin (rpm44@centurytel.net), April 26, 2002.

Nik, where is the location of this property? That makes a big difference in whether or not you need a lot of freeze protection. Also, where does the water you haul come from? How far do you have to drive to get it and how are the roads and how long would it take to fill a tank, etc.

I hauled my water for three years and many people around here still haul water. If there are many families hauling, then the nearest town may have facilities set up for them to access the water easily.

You will need to go to a farm supply store to buy a plastic cistern and a hauling tank. I had a 1500 gal cistern and appox 200gal hauler. Most folk just tie the hauler down in their pickup. I had a trailer. If you are going to be going into town frequently anyway, it is not too difficult to fill up frequently. Some folks have much larger haulers than I did. It depends on what your vehicle is able to pull. Remember, it will put a lot of wear on your vehicle. It is not practical to plan on hauling water to a garden. I will not try to "homestead" again without well water for irrigating.

The advice to try living without running water is good. Most people that haul water have running water set up from the cistern to the house, but if the roads are bad, or someone left the hose running, you can get completely out of water. Everyone in the family MUST be aware of water usage and be cooperative in conserving the water. A lot just depends on what your expectations are in why you are moving to this place.

Hope this helps.

-- kim in CO (kimk61252@hotmail.com), April 26, 2002.

I hauled water for 15 years, in 5 gallon jugs, later I used 50 gallon food grade barrel on an old boat traile. you might be surprised how little water you use when yo have to carry it.

-- hendo (redgate@echoweb.net), April 26, 2002.

Wow! It's Hendo. Boy I miss your posts, will you come to help out again?

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), April 26, 2002.

I have to haul my water(when I'm at my farm in MO). Oh boy will this change your lifestyle! When I bought my farm I didn't even know what a cistern was...thought it was a type of shallow well(until that second night when I ran out of water in the shower). I don't mind hauling water and have adjusted to it but there as some things you must keep in mind. No more letting the water run while brushing teeth. We now take baths by pouring water over ourselves while standing in the shower. I have an underground cistern but it leaks (ought to make a right dandy root cellar). What I did was get a 55 gallon plastic drum and equip it with a spigot. I set this up on my kitchen counter and we fill it directly from the tank on the back of the truck. We use far less water. For 3 people I use about 50-70 gallons a week(no we don't stink THAT bad..lol). That is just for household use...no garden or critters being watered. If I were watering a garden I'd definately do it by capturing the grey water. We use an rv toilet to help save on water and sometimes a composting toilet. In the area I live in there are lots of folks with cisterns and there are people that will come fill up your cistern. Since my cistern leaks this was a mighty expensive proposition. My recommendation is to get yourself a 1500 gallon plastic above ground tank from your local farm supply store. Build something around it and insulate the dickens out of it. Collect rain water. Have some sort of small holding tank you can put up high enough(in the attic if there is enough structural support) to provide gravity flow water (unless you just have to have lots of pressure and then just get a conventional pump setup). It's not a bad way to go if you are naturally kind of a conserving type of person. Definately lowers the price on a piece of property....that's one reason I got such a great deal on my place.

-- Amanda (mrsgunsmyth@hotmail.com), April 26, 2002.

Wherever you live I'm sure it's not so cold as central Alaska. A very high percentage of people living in the Fairbanks area haul water. I now live in the mountains, and have excellent wells, but in town, you either put in basement holding tanks - 500-1000 gallons - or the cisterns that others have talked about. Even in our climate, that cistern water doesn't freeze. But unless you're a $##*@ cheapskate like me, you also get a pickup bed tank - 500 gallons or so. Standard Saturday morning activity is going down to the water supplier and filling up that tank, which lives in the pickup, being winched out only when the bed is needed for other purposes. You then transfer that water into the cistern/holding tank.

-- Audie (paxtours@alaska.net), April 27, 2002.

You can get a 2500 gal (7 ft high, 8 ft diam), black, plastic, above ground water storage tanks for $640.00. Put one in the shade and one in the sun and you might not need a water heater most of the time. Hire a water truck to bring 5,000 gals of potable water.

-- paul (wprimeroselane@msn.com), April 27, 2002.

As someone who has had to haul water for weeks at a time because our water source, a spring, was down to nothing, I wouldn't even consider buying property that did not have a water source on it. It is a large pain. I cannot think what a pain it would be to do that all the time, 365 days a year.

-- TAMMY (TLHARRISWV@CS.COM), April 28, 2002.