Homestead Water Collection
As humans we have five basic survival needs: 1) Oxygen 2) Water 3) Food 4) Shelter 5) Sleep. Oxygen is taken for granted, but water is also a daily need. On a homestead, water is the number one consideration. Food is worked for either by raising chickens and livestock, hunting, employment, and gardening. You either have water or you do not. Recently we have seen natural disasters and bottled water became really important. Most economists say that the USA economy will crash someday. When that happens, there will be no city water or bottled water. What is your plan when the tap water stops?
When we bought our land we knew we had water, it was just not readily accessible; so we made numerous trips to Walmart to fill our water bottles. It was a great day when we were able to draw a bucket of water from our well. The well was dug in the late 1800’s (water was important to those first homesteaders, too). That well was our primary source of water, but we knew we needed another source.
We contacted a well digger and had a 160-foot well dug and fitted it with a hand pump. It refills at a rate of a ½ gallon per hour which is not a lot, but the well has never gone dry. This well then became our primary source of water that first winter and for most of the next year.
However, we were not done. I began fitting each out building with gutters and a 250 gallon water tank: chicken house, turkey house, outdoor kitchen, laundry, etc. We put gutters on the house and installed two 1500 gallon water tanks. In all, we can store 6000 gallons of rain water. Rain water is now our primary source of water. I must admit we have gotten spoiled. The two wells each give us hard water, but rain is nice clear soft water.
It is satisfying that we have three good sources of water and have never considered the need for city water. We will probably continue adding water tanks to increase storage. Next project—a roof and gutter on the wood shed.
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That's the reason we bought our property! All the projects that are both challenging and satisfying. We're working on hydroponic heat. We have lots of water and we want to use a super efficient wood stove instead of the wood stove that the house came with where the heat doesn't quite reach the bathroom and bedroom! My husband's sister says we have an 'alternative lifestyle! ;-)