Do we need a well drilled?

arctictree

I wonder if someone could advise us here.

We will be building in 2019 and looking for ways to save on costs.

In the corner of the field next to us (which we own), there is a permanent spring. Even in the middle of this years drought there was water bubbling up from it.

My idea is to install a small pump and get this piped to the house. Would this be feasible?

Car99

arctictree wrote: »

I wonder if someone could advise us here.

We will be building in 2019 and looking for ways to save on costs.

In the corner of the field next to us (which we own), there is a permanent spring. Even in the middle of this years drought there was water bubbling up from it.

My idea is to install a small pump and get this piped to the house. Would this be feasible?

I wouldn't think a spring would produce enough water to supply a house. It would want to be capable of flowing 100 gallons per hour and ideally 300 gallons per hour to supply a home .

Also keeping it free of contamination would be difficult .

Stanford

What do you have planning permission for?

sydthebeat

arctictree wrote: »

I wonder if someone could advise us here.

We will be building in 2019 and looking for ways to save on costs.

In the corner of the field next to us (which we own), there is a permanent spring. Even in the middle of this years drought there was water bubbling up from it.

My idea is to install a small pump and get this piped to the house. Would this be feasible?

if public water main is available, then planning permission would generally condition you to connect.

is this the case?

Car99

sydthebeat wrote: »

if public water main is available, then planning permission would generally condition you to connect.

is this the case?

Connecting to mains would be cheaper than buying a well pump so I would guess they have to bore a well

sydthebeat

Car99 wrote: »

Connecting to mains would be cheaper than buying a well pump so I would guess they have to bore a well

I have a client who was conditioned to connect to public water mains....

irish water confirmed nearest main is 220 meters away ... and the connection works would cost €17,000... with the €2300 connection fee on top.


so no, connecting to mains is not always cheaper

arctictree

sydthebeat wrote: »

if public water main is available, then planning permission would generally condition you to connect.

is this the case?

The public main is not available to us. Very rural area. Planning was for a standard single house. I don't see anything in the conditions about the water.

john9876

Car99 wrote: »

I wouldn't think a spring would produce enough water to supply a house. It would want to be capable of flowing 100 gallons per hour and ideally 300 gallons per hour to supply a home .

Also keeping it free of contamination would be difficult .

Why would you need 100 gallons per hour?
Surely you can have a storage tank for baths and showers ... how much drinking water do you need?
I've no idea about this ... just curious ... is there some legislation which says a min of 100 gallons ph?

Car99

john9876 wrote: »

Why would you need 100 gallons per hour?
Surely you can have a storage tank for baths and showers ... how much drinking water do you need?
I've no idea about this ... just curious ... is there some legislation which says a min of 100 gallons ph?

Its not really about the quantoty , more about the flow and recovery rate of the well. 100 gallons per hour is only 7.5 litres per minute , that's not much water. Then most wells need a treatment system and the backwash for the treatment system consumes alot of water in a short period of time.

tabby aspreme

OP in situations like yours , you can dig a hole at the source of the spring about 7m deep and stack 1.2 m diameter concrete pipes on top of each other , with the last pipe at least .3 m above the surface, cast concrete lids are available for these pipes. Then fill around the pipes with broken stone, this will act as a reservoir. Then fit a submersible pump suspended 1m off the bottom of the well .

Markcheese

tabby aspreme wrote: »

OP in situations like yours , you can dig a hole at the source of the spring about 7m deep and stack 1.2 m diameter concrete pipes on top of each other , with the last pipe at least .3 m above the surface, cast concrete lids are available for these pipes. Then fill around the pipes with broken stone, this will act as a reservoir. Then fit a submersible pump suspended 1m off the bottom of the well .

I think I'd thank my lucky stars and do pretty much what tabby said above... Get the water tested (for everything and anything.. You should do that anyway)
And if youre worried about volumes of water stick in some basic rainwater harvesting on your roof... (all the gutters draining to tank and a pipe and pump running to your storage tank in the attic - if you haven't got the money to do all this now, plan for it and pipe it now, pipe is cheap...)