The Quest For H2O

A combination of research, technology and planning will help you tap into your subterranean water source.

- Dan Mitchell

In the good ol’ days, frontiersmen would use divining rods and their best guess to determine if a piece of land had a viable water source lurking beneath the ground. It was a primary factor to establish if the land could be built on or not.

Fortunately for us, methods have changed, but the importance of having a good, reliable water source has not. If you’re in the process of evaluating potential home sites, a property disclosure statement should indicate what kind of water source is available with each parcel, i.e., whether you will have to dig a well or you can tie into city water.

If city water is an option, you’ll need to know how far away the closest line is. If it’s a mile or two down the road, tapping into it could be expensive, because you’d have to pay to bring the line to the house. If it’s within close proximity, say a quarter mile or less, then you simply need to get an estimate on how much it would cost to bring that water to your site verses the cost of drilling a well.

Well… That’s a Deep Subject

For most of us, building your dream log home means doing so in a secluded, rural area and often the only option is to drill a well. It’s a good idea to check around at adjoining homes — even if they’re on large tracts, like 20 or 30 acres — to learn how they get their water. Just the fact that there are homes at all tells you that there’s a viable, potable water source, because they couldn’t live there if there wasn’t. It’s just a matter of its quality and how far you have to go to get to it.