Spring fed water

[Liz Fry]

Has anyone had any experience of spring fed water in their property?

An interested to hear comments on pressure (or lack of), any ups/downs of having water in this way, and the types of systems they have in their houses to deal with it (storage tanks, pumps, showers etc etc), testing requirements ....anything you can think of that might be useful to know!

Many thanks

Liz

 

[middi]

Hi liz.

All you need is to satisfy three criteria points.

1) Have the water tested to reassure that it is potable ( if not, drinking water has to be treated separately)

2) The water to be collected in a covered well or any other form of reservoir

3) Install a suitable submersible pump low down in the well (or other) which operates with a pressure sensor diaphragm.

The outlet from the pump is then piped in the household plumbing system.

This system is very common in isolated farmsteads. I am not sure if you still need to pay bills for withdrawing from the water table. It will be wise to check the water quality at regular intervals if in doubt.

I have one of these systems in a well in Italy, The original pump is still working since it was submerged 36 years ago.

 

[Penners]

I seem to remember a similar question cropping up on this forum some time ago. I think someone said that you are allowed to abstract water without any special permissions, provided you don't exceed a certain volume per year.

Hopefully someone will be able to confirm or deny that, and add some figures.

 

[Flyfisher]

http://www.groundwateruk.org/html/faq2.htm seems to contain all the relevant info.

 

[Liz Fry]

fantastic thanks...will have a good look now.

 

[elm]

None of the houses in our immediate locality have mains water, when we moved here the house was supplied by a spring that rises on our land. Being a spring it emerges at a leisurely trickle; there was nothing but gravity to make it come out of the taps any faster. There is a collection chamber but the pipe that leads from it is rather small, presumably so as not to empty the chamber too quickly. Filling the kettle was a lesson in patience, filling the bath more so; the washing machine made odd noises in its quest for sufficient water.

At the first sign of serious weather I was quick to fill a few containers with water for drinking - after more than a day or so of heavy rain, it would come from the taps in a rich rusty brown and acquire a peculiar smell .....

We came to the decision that a new borehole would solve the problem, expensive but hopefully a permanent solution. Some hairy moments ensued when connecting the borehole to the antiquated plumbing. Having not been subject to any serious water pressure ever, the places which were held together by paint finally gave way .....

I was interested to note that the spring water when tested was very soft acid water (hence the thin pipework), whereas the borehole gives very hard alkaline water - not noticed until the kettle started scaling up which prompted us to test.