My parents are in the same situation. Their house in the valley with a spring up on the mountian south of their house. My uncle wanted a house there too so he asked my grandfather about splitting water rights and he agreed so my parents had to let them hook up to their spring and holding tank. every summer we would run out of water watching them fill their pools or kids running through sprinklers, water slides or whatever. Then their kids grew up and one pulled a trailer in and hooked it up too so mow my parnets have a pump in the creek for washing and buy botteled water for drinking as there is never any water in the spring. My parnets do all the maintenance on the spring and tank and never get help from the uncle. Once they are gone and I inherit the land I don't know what I'm going to do with it. i'd sell the house and south side of the farm since its just some trees and nothing really there but would run into the issue of showing a good water supply as well.

Susan,

All of the previous posts were spot-on, but your friend should consult an attorney to see what the law is in her state/locality (i.e. regarding wells, easements, and riparian rights). She definitely should NOT agree to anything until or unless she has a good idea of what potential long-term consequences there are for her, because she will be the one holding the bag. Of course, this assumes that she's game after fully understanding what rights she would have, and what rights she would not have.

Something else your friend might want to check with the local municipality they are in. It may not be legal to share water with out at least meeting water quality guidelines. Which would require periodic testing, filing the test reports with the state or local government. And even if it is not it might be a good excuse for your friend to use. "I called the county and they said that a plumbing permit would be required and it cost $$$, there will also be monthly testing which cost $$$, and they said that the fine for not following local laws would be $$$$ per day. And I didn't tell the county that you are sharing water now, I wouldn't want you to get in trouble with the law." If your friend's neighbors are to lazy to keep their property maintained they will be to lazy to call and check the law for themselves. Or just tell them NO and leave it at that.

When we bought our home in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mtns of CA five or so years ago, it shared a well with the neighbor, a nice older widow lady. There used to be two wells on our property, don't have a clue why they were abandoned and the joint well thing was started. We have a legal easement onto her property were the line (1 3/4" PVC) runs. We didn't really like that idea, but liked the idea of paying about $10k to hook into the municipal water system, so we still do it. We pay her a very fair $25 a month for our share of the electricity to run the pump, and we share any maintenance costs (just happened for the first time). There is a pressure tank attached, so even tho we are about 80 ft higher in elevation, and a couple hundred feet away, we have good pressure. We would still prefer to have our "own" water system, but in this case it works. Our biggest worry is that she dies, and the house sets vacant for a while, with the utilities turned off. We are not sure we would be able to have electricity turned back on to a home we do not own. So every day we wish her a long and healty life...

Susan, I've quickly scanned the other posts and I hope I'm not just repeating what someone else said: IMHO the two biggest problems with wells are (1) flow rate or capacity, and (2) contamination. Joining all three wells together might improve flow rate for the two bad wells, but will almost certainly do nothing good for the good well. Also, if one of the three owners allows contamination (example: well cover comes loose and family pet's feces wash into the well during a storm), it could affect the other two wells.

I wouldn't do it, and I wouldn't expect anyone else to do it for me.

Frank2135

I'll agree with most if not all the others; property A's well should not be shared with properties B & C. That would be a really bad deal for property A. If asked my response would be, "No, how 'bout them Seattle Mariners?".

Simply stated: this is a can of worms.

The person with the good well is almost guaranteed to end up with the short end of the stick.

Perhaps a good excuse would be "the local municipality won't allow it because of the risk of cross-contamination" or "my insurance company won't permit it due to liability reasons" will blow off the would-be moochers without creating undue hostility.

The person with the good well could still offer to fill a tank now and again to water gardens etc., to keep the good neighbour routine going.

Anyway, the best advice is: run, run away from this deal.

Thanks, guys! I knew you would know about things like this.

This was a totally new concept to both of us, and you know how you listen to something and have a hunch that its a totally BAD idea, but you don't have anything to back it up?

And you've offered some good, non-hostility-inducing excuses for her. I've forwarded the lot to her.

Thanks again!

Sue

Firm reason number 1: it may create a legal right in the two properties which don't have the quality water systems, and put the 'good' property under an easement, which is a legal liability. Your friend's gut is telling him the right thing. To sort out the property rights, the neighbors would each need to hire a lawyer (one lawyer should not represent the three, as there are conflicts of interest among the parties) to haggle out the privileges and liabilities of each owner as to the water and wells. Joining the wells involves rights and obligatons in real estate that would pass to each successive owner and encumber each property. There should be a recorded instrument which alerts potential buyers of the easement, and existing title policies might be affected. The property values of all three parcels may be affected, and there might should be some compensation due one or more parcel owners as a result.

Firm reason number 2: it may be that there are costs to "join" the wells and pumps and there will be ongoing maintenance costs, and the parties need a written agreement to take into account who is obligated for what costs or compensations for what benefits. Each should have his or her own lawyer, as there are conflicts of interest. The agreement should provide whether each person funds his or her share in advance, what happens if someone fails to fund a share; or whether costs will be paid as the project goes forward, again with provisions for failure by some party. There are ongoing costs, which should be provided for in the agreement, along with provisions for failures on the parts of the parties.

Your friend should talk to a lawyer who specializes in real estate law, especially in easements, and who knows about local water rights. Different regions in the US have different laws on water rights, depending on historical scarcity.

Thanks, Philip. I'm passing it on.

Sue