A neighbor came by while we were in WY and as he was drunk I was ready
to discount anything he said, however he said "There is a water well
on your property". Knowing that nobody on my side of the mountain has
a water well I thought he was full of it but he offered to show me
where.
About 150' from the old cabin was a half buried rusted 5 gallon bucket
upside down and he pointed to it and I bent and pulled it up.
Undeneath was clearly a well casing with a cover. Nobody else, even
the previous owners knew this existed. With a mirror, we directed
sunlight down it and sure enough, there was water about 50' below. He
told me it is surface water trapped between two rock layers and he has
a similar well that gets 15 gals/day in May and is down to 5 gal/day
in July-Sept. This does not sound like much until you have hauled a
lot of water up a very steep mountain road. 5-15 gal/day could fill
our 1250 gallon cistern over a few months. He told me that trhe
health dept told him that his water has something that "begins with G
type of bacteria in it but I drink it and it don't bother me none".
When I asked if he mean Giardia, he said, "yeah, thats it" but I
figure he is too pickled for any bugs to hurt him.
So, I can get a 120 V 10gph pump for $310 and then add clorox to the
cistern to kill the bad stuff and use it for bathing and dishwashing.
So, worthwhile or not? Being used to boat living with not using much
fresh water, even 5 gal/day might be useful.