?s for owners of well water/septic systems...

[Ruperto Mendiones]

Be certain you have exclusive use. A shared well easement is nothing but a pita. We have one where two of four parties use the well heavily and two do not use it at all. Endless disputes regarding maintenance costs vs usage! Your title company should identify if there is such an easement or agreement recorded.

[Mark Bolton]

The house I just sold I averaged about 75 gallons a day in water use for the entire house, but I lived alone. I really didn't do anything to save water, but I didn't waste it either. I figure a household of five isn't automatically going to use five times as much water as certain water uses don't up with more people. 600 gallons a day just struck me as a lot of water to use.

I had the smallest trash can available and I rarely filled it up. Often I only took it to the curb every other week. A family down the street had two of the largest trash cans available and they were overflowing every week.

Same here.. I often don't even have trash per say. Many times I will just have a plastic shopping bag in the can and once a week or so I toss it in a trash can at the gas station or a store I'm at.

I could easily see water consumption getting up there with families and children (especially teenagers). I'm sure the 125/day has a factor applied that accounts for seasonal soil absorption/evaporation rates (winter) and all of the years demands on the system. Holidays, party, visiting guests, and so on. You have to design for peak/worst case usage.

[Mike Lassiter]

I just checked my water filter for useage and according to it our average daily useage is 42 gallons for 2 people. like others I don't waste water but we have front load high effeciency washer all low use toilets etc. and we will us a bath towel more than some I suppose before washing them again.
Boy wouldn't you hate to tote that from the creek or spring, or have to hand pump that every day! And that is nothing compared to some. My oldest daughter with 4 kids and keeping little sister's 2 uses 5000-6000 gallons every month.

[Mark Bolton]

I just checked my water filter for useage and according to it our average daily useage is 42 gallons for 2 people. like others I don't waste water but we have front load high effeciency washer all low use toilets etc. and we will us a bath towel more than some I suppose before washing them again.
Boy wouldn't you hate to tote that from the creek or spring, or have to hand pump that every day! And that is nothing compared to some. My oldest daughter with 4 kids and keeping little sister's 2 uses 5000-6000 gallons every month.

I'm sure if the average user were forced to confront their usage even marginally by having to tote even only a small percentage they would become much more thrifty in their consumption in short order.

It's been a very hot, and I think pertinent, subject in the past few years that the wars of tomorrow will likely not be fought over oil or politics and religion, but water.

[Art Mann]

I am shocked at the number of people who have their septic tanks pumped on a regular basis. Perhaps my geographic area lends itself well to the dispersal of effluent. Almost everyone I know uses a septic tank and I have never heard of anyone getting their septic tank pumped unless they are having a problem - and problems are rare. After I had been living in my current house for around 20 years, I thought we might have a problem so I hired a guy to come pump the tank. When he left, I asked him what was the level of solids accumulated in the tank. He said there was very little and that the pumping operation was really unnecessary.

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

Looked it up last night... the house was built in '87. Has there been anything more than mild changes/updates in septic system design over the years that would warrant paying closer attention to what's likely in the ground? For example, maybe it was common to use plastic tanks that often failed within 30 years, that sort of thing.

Once again, this all depends upon the region and codes where it was installed, but most-likely there has not been any major changes in the designs. That said, we have no idea what design that system has. Check with the county health department. They should have the well & septic data on file.

Be certain you have exclusive use. A shared well easement is nothing but a pita. We have one where two of four parties use the well heavily and two do not use it at all. Endless disputes regarding maintenance costs vs usage! Your title company should identify if there is such an easement or agreement recorded.

Title companies don't always have this data. Often times the Health Department has this info too. Shared wells can be great when all the owners are like-minded. I've heard lots of horror stories from owners of shared wells. We backed away from one house we wanted to buy last year because the shared well was on the property of a meth head who inherited the land. He was supposed to do twice-yearly tests due to certain issues with the water and Health Department records showed he hadn't done the tests in over 10 years as well as added a 3rd party to the 2-party well.

One other thing to think about is easements for septic. We have looked at a fair number of listings that not only did the property have their own septic system, but there were easements for the neighbor septic systems installed on the property too. (The neighbor properties did not perc well enough for their own septic.) If you have no plans to do anything with the land, it's not that big of a deal, but since we have livestock, we would not be able to have the livestock in the septic area in case they damage the neighbor's septic systems.

[Jim Matthews]

You're on the right track; having a few key utility pumps on a backup panel make real sense.

We have a 12 kW (peak output) generator that powers the well pump, furnace (and circulators), refrigerator, kitchen lights and a few outlets.
Query the local septic professionals about the lifetime of a septic field based on the number of bathrooms.

Ours was built with an oversize holding tank, and the field is under-stressed as a result.

If the local pros say a field lasts an average of X years, and the house has one that was built X+ years ago,
it is reasonable to deduct that cost from any serious offer.

Massachusetts has water quality regs concerning the acceptable limits of leachate from septic fields,
known as Title V pertaining to water quality. Most mortgage lenders won't offer terms on a property
that fails inspection.

Has your property of interest been inspected for compliance to local regs?

*******

Nothing to add concerning the wells - mine has never run dry, even with
two little kids in the house. We bypassed the filtration system, as it uses
salt for softening - we have occasional problems with scale forming on fixtures.

Other than that, no worries.

[Brian Elfert]

I am shocked at the number of people who have their septic tanks pumped on a regular basis. Perhaps my geographic area lends itself well to the dispersal of effluent. Almost everyone I know uses a septic tank and I have never heard of anyone getting their septic tank pumped unless they are having a problem - and problems are rare. After I had been living in my current house for around 20 years, I thought we might have a problem so I hired a guy to come pump the tank. When he left, I asked him what was the level of solids accumulated in the tank. He said there was very little and that the pumping operation was really unnecessary.

Septic pumping is required by law in Minnesota and Wisconsin. It is every three years in Minnesota and not sure how often in Wisconsin. It seems like the city where I am buying a house are the ones who enforce septic systems mostly. I don't believe they are closely tracking homeowners for compliance with the pumping rules.