Hello Comms

We use a well by necessity not choice. We have no mains water supply to the house which was equipped with an antique well when we moved in. Over the last few years it has dried up in the summer so we were forced to drop a new pipe.

It was a contractor job which took no more than a morning of drilling to drop a pipe 35 meters down to the first available porous layer. Once set we could connect a pump, electrical 1KW, which supplies the whole house on a pressure demand system. We get full domestic pressure.

Currently we are on grid but we're planning to move essentials like the water pump, the thermal solar panels' pump and some lighting over to a photovoltaic solar system so that we have all the basics if the power goes out.

Water storage in this case isn't a pressing need since the well is feeding from a subterranean current - however we could put some storage in high parts of the house and gravity feed our system as a belt and braces backup.

Some friends of ours live higher up in the mountains and use an open well with a winched bucket to supply drinking water. For the rest of their water needs they have laid tubing from a nearby river which is just higher than the house. Flow is not impressive but let's say when you open a tap the water comes out. They have a small hill on the back of the property and we've discussed the logistics of putting a cistern up there and filling it via a low-flow solar pump which would provide much better pressure for their domestic needs.