private water supply

[Cassiepod]

Hello,

I think this is the best place for this. The house we just moved to has a private water supply which, most of the time, doesn't taste that great. Which is a bit surprising cos the water freely flows out of the hill behind us. When we bought the house the owner had a lot of trouble getting a water sample to pass the tests required to prove it was potable, but did eventually get one, thus the purchase went through.

Does anyone have experience of private water supplies, maintenance thereof and home testing/verification of quality?

Many thanks Cassie

[Odsox]

I have 2 private water supplies, or 3 if you count my rainwater harvesting for polytunnel watering.
Our main supply is from a mountain spring which is absolutely pure, if a bit on the acid side as it's naturally filtered through peat. We have to have a stainless steel immersion heater or it will only last a few years before it gets eaten away, and we ought to have a stainless steel hot water cylinder too, but they are an arm and a leg job.
The spring does dry up now and again in summer and I have a deep borehole well, which is 120 feet deep. That water is safe to drink but it tastes disgusting, full of copper, iron and sulphur. All supposedly "good" for you, but you wouldn't want a cup of tea made with it. That also is a bit on the acid side and I had to change the pressure vessel last year, so it lasted just over 20 years, but the submersible pump is stainless and should last forever.

The only maintenance for the spring supply is to clean out the silt in the receiving tank every now and again, other than that as it's gravity fed there is nothing much to go wrong

[Cassiepod]

Thanks Tony.

Apart from some vague lines on our title deeds we have no idea where the water supply comes from ie where the pipes run in the field etc. Do you know how we'd go about figuring that out?

[Odsox]

Sorry, no idea.
We have the same problem here. The spring is on commonage and the pipe runs for about 3/4 mile across 2 farmlands.
I do have peace of mind in that the farm that has the majority of it's run, taps off some of my water for a cattle trough. So unlikely to get stroppy.
As far as I know, Irish residents have no obligation to have private water tested, but I think private UK water supplies have to be tested regularly.

[Green Aura]

Here you go, cassie.

http://dwqr.scot/

They should be able to answer all your questions.

[CJay]

I have 2 private water supplies, or 3 if you count my rainwater harvesting for polytunnel watering.
Our main supply is from a mountain spring which is absolutely pure, if a bit on the acid side as it's naturally filtered through peat. We have to have a stainless steel immersion heater or it will only last a few years before it gets eaten away, and we ought to have a stainless steel hot water cylinder too, but they are an arm and a leg job.
The spring does dry up now and again in summer and I have a deep borehole well, which is 120 feet deep. That water is safe to drink but it tastes disgusting, full of copper, iron and sulphur. All supposedly "good" for you, but you wouldn't want a cup of tea made with it. That also is a bit on the acid side and I had to change the pressure vessel last year, so it lasted just over 20 years, but the submersible pump is stainless and should last forever.

The only maintenance for the spring supply is to clean out the silt in the receiving tank every now and again, other than that as it's gravity fed there is nothing much to go wrong

Check out H2O doctor. Its a bit pricy but from folks I know that have it. It does wonders for bad water.

[diggernotdreamer]

We have a spring well, it is private to us, we have no idea where the water comes from, but it is a good spring, we don't get it tested, the water is very clean and since we lifted the foot out of the bottom we have no more issues with dirty water. I have thought about getting it tested,but at 130 euro a pop, I can think of better windows, I mean things to spend money on, we're not dead yet and been drinking it for years

[Odsox]

Check out H2O doctor. Its a bit pricy but from folks I know that have it. It does wonders for bad water.

Not really worth it, we are only using the well indoors for maybe 2 or 3 weeks each year and some wetter years not at all.
The well is in constant use for watering my greenhouses and polytunnels, so the added minerals are probably beneficial to the plants.
Also I might be exaggerating a little as coffee made from well water is fine, just horrible for tea both for taste and scum. It's also worth noting that NONE of the commercially bottled water are any better. (I've tried them all)
Not the end of the world though, I have 4 x 5 litre bottles of saved spring water to tide me over. That's about 80 cups worth and as I only usually have one cup a day, it should last through the dry spell.

[CJay]

Ok. Cool.

They are really pricy.

[diggernotdreamer]

I like the danger of drinking untested water

[Cassiepod]

thankyou all very much, so it sounds like stay chilled and don't worry about it. :) I'm drinking it with no ill effects so have to assume it's ok.