Dear fellow gardeners,

Could you tell the amount that you are spending for watering your
garden?

For gardeners using city water and sewer, could you estimate
annually how much you spend on watering the garden and how much extra
sewer fee because of that?

For gardeners using well water, any idea how much does it cost for
the electricity of the pump and the maintenance of the well annually?

The following is the dilemma that we are facing:

We are building a house on about an acre of property in New
Jersey(zoned 6), currently there is a well on the property, we are
wondering if we should keep it for gardening purpose only . City
water is available at the property and the new house will be connected
to it. The well testing report shows that the well is ok, with no
Ecoli but has Coliform, so a simple treatment of Chlorine is needed.
The township allows us to keep the well but under the condition that
there is no plumbing going into the new house from the well, so we
need to build a well house outside for the water tank and the switch
for the pump.

The cost to keep the well for irrigation for our case would be about
$4,200, which includes:
- Bring the well up to code(18" above ground)
- Building a well house
- Install new pump and water tank
- Lead the water and electricity lines from the well to the well house
- Chlorine treatment

The cost to abandon the well would be about $1,200, from a certified
well sealer.

Any opinion is greatly appreciated!

Thanks.

Foowah

Plants always do best when well watered but that doesn't necessarily that
they do best when watered from a well!!!!

Since you live in New Jersey, the toxic waste capital of the US, who knows
what else is in your well water?

There is more than just bacteria content and chlorination to deal with. Have
your well water tested for mineral content and toxicity before using it on
the plants. If the mineral content with calcium and other metals and the pH
is too high, it can damage your plants. Your local agricultural extension
service can tell you what to do.

The ultimate decision is yours. Maybe you can flip a coin?


Foowah Ip wrote in message
om...
Dear fellow gardeners,

Could you tell the amount that you are spending for watering your
garden?

For gardeners using city water and sewer, could you estimate
annually how much you spend on watering the garden and how much extra
sewer fee because of that?

For gardeners using well water, any idea how much does it cost for
the electricity of the pump and the maintenance of the well annually?

The following is the dilemma that we are facing:

We are building a house on about an acre of property in New
Jersey(zoned 6), currently there is a well on the property, we are
wondering if we should keep it for gardening purpose only . City
water is available at the property and the new house will be connected
to it. The well testing report shows that the well is ok, with no
Ecoli but has Coliform, so a simple treatment of Chlorine is needed.
The township allows us to keep the well but under the condition that
there is no plumbing going into the new house from the well, so we
need to build a well house outside for the water tank and the switch
for the pump.

The cost to keep the well for irrigation for our case would be about
$4,200, which includes:
- Bring the well up to code(18" above ground)
- Building a well house
- Install new pump and water tank
- Lead the water and electricity lines from the well to the well house
- Chlorine treatment

The cost to abandon the well would be about $1,200, from a certified
well sealer.

Any opinion is greatly appreciated!

Thanks.

Foowah

How much I spend on watering the garden depends entirely on the
weather. For example, it's been more than a month since I turned
on an outside tap to water this year. Other years, I wind up
watering daily. On average, I generally just about double my
water bill for a 1-acre yard. I'm on septic, so the issue of
sewer fees doesn't arise. However, other places I've lived,
there has usually been some mechanism for excepting at least a
portion of the sewer fees if you can demonstrate that the water
being used is, indeed, not going into the sewer system. You'd
have to check that with your local water authority. All that
being said, personally, I'd never abandon an available water
source on property I owned; so, I'd go with the well-head.

Chris Owens

Foowah Ip wrote:

Dear fellow gardeners,

Could you tell the amount that you are spending for watering your
garden?

For gardeners using city water and sewer, could you estimate
annually how much you spend on watering the garden and how much extra
sewer fee because of that?

For gardeners using well water, any idea how much does it cost for
the electricity of the pump and the maintenance of the well annually?

The following is the dilemma that we are facing:

We are building a house on about an acre of property in New
Jersey(zoned 6), currently there is a well on the property, we are
wondering if we should keep it for gardening purpose only . City
water is available at the property and the new house will be connected
to it. The well testing report shows that the well is ok, with no
Ecoli but has Coliform, so a simple treatment of Chlorine is needed.
The township allows us to keep the well but under the condition that
there is no plumbing going into the new house from the well, so we
need to build a well house outside for the water tank and the switch
for the pump.

The cost to keep the well for irrigation for our case would be about
$4,200, which includes:
- Bring the well up to code(18" above ground)
- Building a well house
- Install new pump and water tank
- Lead the water and electricity lines from the well to the well house
- Chlorine treatment

The cost to abandon the well would be about $1,200, from a certified
well sealer.

Any opinion is greatly appreciated!

Thanks.

Foowah


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Foowah Ip wrote:

Could you tell the amount that you are spending for watering your
garden?

For gardeners using city water and sewer, could you estimate
annually how much you spend on watering the garden and how much extra
sewer fee because of that?

For gardeners using well water, any idea how much does it cost for
the electricity of the pump and the maintenance of the well annually?

The following is the dilemma that we are facing:

We are building a house on about an acre of property in New
Jersey(zoned 6), currently there is a well on the property, we are
wondering if we should keep it for gardening purpose only . City
water is available at the property and the new house will be connected
to it. The well testing report shows that the well is ok, with no
Ecoli but has Coliform, so a simple treatment of Chlorine is needed.
The township allows us to keep the well but under the condition that
there is no plumbing going into the new house from the well, so we
need to build a well house outside for the water tank and the switch
for the pump.

The cost to keep the well for irrigation for our case would be about
$4,200, which includes:
- Bring the well up to code(18" above ground)
- Building a well house
- Install new pump and water tank
- Lead the water and electricity lines from the well to the well house
- Chlorine treatment

The cost to abandon the well would be about $1,200, from a certified
well sealer.


Well, let's see. $1,200 to shut it down, or that same $1,200 plus
another $3,000 to make it usable. And that doesn't count the electricity
you would use to run the pump as you go.

You're in New Jersey, so let's say that you would be using the pump for,
oh, let's say six months of each year. I have no idea what they charge
you for water out there, so let's say you'd use $100 (because it's a
nice round number) a month of city water. (Remember that there are fixed
charges and usage charges on your water bill, and the fixed charges
aren't part of this math.) That means it would take 30 months to recoup
the difference. Toss in the electricity to round it up to 36 months, or
six years for you to break even -- assuming no maintenance is needed on
the pump.

If the amount of water usage charges are less than $100 a month, or if
you don't need to keep it up for 6 months a year, or if I didn't allow
enough for the electricity and other costs of running the pump (would
you have to pay for annual inspections, for example?), and that six year
estimate is too short. Maybe 10 years or more before it pays for itself.
Now you're getting out into the range when you might have to start
thinking about maintenance costs that'll take the break-even point out
even further.

My gut feeling is that once you plug in realistic numbers for you, the
break even point may be further out than you might live in the house, or
at least far enough out that it may be a concern. But if there are other
benefits, those may enter into the equation. As another poster
mentioned, there is that risk that there are other problems with what's
in the water, and you may not want to use it on your veggies or your
lawn. Or maybe the city water may not be as good as the well water. So
many other issues to consider.

But if you are just looking at the numbers, you may be better off asking
your neighbors about their water bills. My round number could be very,
very far off for your area.

--
Warren H.

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You could also just let it sit there unused. That costs nothing.

On 11 Aug 2003 08:31:11 -0700, (Foowah Ip) wrote:

Dear fellow gardeners,

Could you tell the amount that you are spending for watering your
garden?

snip

Too many variables. How large a garden? Growing what? Water rates?
Electricity rates? Around here, water and sewer charges vary quite a
bit from city to city, and even between 'flat fee' and 'actual use'
areas. Also, in last year's drought, nearly all landscape watering was
restricted, incl. by well water.

That is, there is little to be learned by comparing your (projected)
use with a random sample. You're gonna have to sit down with a
calculator and do the math for your own situation. One point: if the
well is 'shut down,' can it be revived later after you have a better
idea of your water use, etc.? After a couple of years, you should know
roughly how much water *your* garden uses, how much it costs, and
whether the investment would be worthwhile.

I'm very lucky, the trailer park I live in has it's own water wells,(deep ones
too) and the people living here do not pay for any water at all and I'm able to
use all I want for my 300+ iris and my canna patch without worry.


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towards an east that would not know another dawn.
But elsewhere the stars were still young and the light of morning
lingered: and along the path he once had followed, man would one day go
again."

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"Frogleg" wrote in message
...
On 11 Aug 2003 08:31:11 -0700, (Foowah Ip) wrote:

Dear fellow gardeners,

Could you tell the amount that you are spending for watering your
garden?

snip

Too many variables. How large a garden? Growing what? Water rates?
Electricity rates? Around here, water and sewer charges vary quite a
bit from city to city, and even between 'flat fee' and 'actual use'
areas. Also, in last year's drought, nearly all landscape watering was
restricted, incl. by well water.




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our city water comes out of the lake. I have yet to hear that there has ever been
water restrictions, but that should be a consideration in keeping the well or not.
Ingrid


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Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
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endorsements or recommendations I make.

wrote in
:

our city water comes out of the lake. I have yet to hear that there
has ever been water restrictions, but that should be a consideration
in keeping the well or not.

If taking city water is prohibited because of shortages, most times also
taking ground water is forbidden. But I agree, it is a consideration.

One more thing: our city water during normal circumstances only is about
1.5 - 2 bar pressure. If the heat hits and ppl start to water their
precious lawns the pressure drops to slighly above 1 bar (ie. it is coming
out of the tap, instead of getting sucked in; but hardly so). It wil take
a lot of time and planning to water your garden with that.

My pump otoh. produces between 5 and 6 bar pressure and can move about
5000 liters per hour. This makes life a lot easier under difficult
circumstances.

Ursa..


--
==================================
Ursa (Major)/ \ *-*-* *
___________/====================================\_______*-*______

(Foowah Ip) wrote in message . com...
Dear fellow gardeners,

Could you tell the amount that you are spending for watering your
garden?

.... The well testing report shows that the well is ok, with no
Ecoli but has Coliform, so a simple treatment of Chlorine is needed.
The township allows us to keep the well but under the condition that
there is no plumbing going into the new house from the well, so we
need to build a well house outside for the water tank and the switch
for the pump.

The cost to keep the well for irrigation for our case would be about
$4,200, which includes:
- Bring the well up to code(18" above ground)

4000 seems a bit enflated...

- Building a well house ...

we didn't have a 'well house'.. just a pump house just big enough to
protect the pump. very small cost.

- Install new pump and water tank

should be most expensive part

- Lead the water and electricity lines from the well to the well house

why do you have to have a 'well house'???
you will need the electricity for the pump and we had a light bulb in
the pump house which kept it from freezing in winter in zone 8..USA
my neighbor here at my new place has a well and the little pump house
is a bit higher than a chair and the faucet comes directly from it and
she hooks her hose to it and does all the watering she needs. i know
it is way less than 4' cube.
it is about the right height and has a flat top she uses for potted
plants.

- Chlorine treatment

if used for garden, why would you want chlorine??


The cost to abandon the well would be about $1,200, from a certified
well sealer.

Any opinion is greatly appreciated!

Thanks.

Foowah

like Ceroid says, all water is not pottable. it cost aroud $1500 (i
think in our area )to have chemical tests for hazardous
chemical/minerals etc. but it would probably pay in the long run if
you did a lot of gardening. I think i would have it tested first
before making a decision.

water is not going to get any cheaper unless the bottom totally falls
out in our economy....a real depression like the 1930's... it will
become more and more contaminated and more and more expensive to
treat.. i have a 6 phase reverse osmosis treatment setup including UV
and find that it is much cheaper than buying a case or two of bottled
water every week for drinking. I have refused to go that rout of
bottled water so having the RO i can still keep from buying bottled
water and have pottabl water.!

like i said, my neighbor here has a well and if i did't have so many
trees to disturb and such a tiny yard, i would too.
love.... lee