# My Water Bill



## chickenqueen (Jan 9, 2016)

I got my first water bill since getting the geese.It went from $30 to over $60 due to all the water I've been using for them.The goslings were so much more work and expense than chicks but their personalities make it worthwhile.My chickens won't go swimming with me....


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Mine goes up a bit when I have to resort to using the misters. Luckily for me it doesn't double. 

At least you got something to show for the extra expense.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

You have water bills out in the country? I have a well. In fact this is the third house I've lived in with well water. My father has town water. But he put in a well to water the lawn.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

You'll find a lot of country homes with city water due to the problems with wells. Either not being able to provide enough water or from being contaminated from whatever industry, like farming.


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

We are one of them....the wells around here are shallow or rusty...


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## squirrelhunter (Sep 6, 2016)

We have a well too,dad put it in before I was born and I'm 55... When I lived in town our water bill was around $60 all the time.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

We do have a well here, it's inop after a lightning strike. I've thought about getting it up and running again but lightning more than likely will take it out again.


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## squirrelhunter (Sep 6, 2016)

I take it your well isn't below ground level?? Ours is.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I don't know what the deal is here. I've never lost anything to lightning before yet and I've lost the electronics on the stove, 2 TV's, and 2 sat receivers since we moved here. We have a whole house surge protector but lost one TV to the last big t-storm anyway.

From what the old owner told me the well hasn't worked in years. That after the lightning took it out they opted to tie in to the city water.


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## chickenqueen (Jan 9, 2016)

There's a spring under my property that feeds my pond.We have city water here and the water pressure sucks. Most areas around here use cisterns.I see the water truck going somewhere just about every day.I want to dig a well in case city water ceases to exist but I know nothing about them.I guess I can always run lines from the pond if I have to and get a hand pump..


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

The lightning probably took out the well pump . I had it happen at my.old house. Had to buy a new well pump.


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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

We have well water so I don't have a water bill. It's so much nicer having ice cold spring water


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

chickenqueen said:


> There's a spring under my property that feeds my pond.We have city water here and the water pressure sucks. Most areas around here use cisterns.I see the water truck going somewhere just about every day.I want to dig a well in case city water ceases to exist but I know nothing about them.I guess I can always run lines from the pond if I have to and get a hand pump..


It cost us 6K to put in our well in GA 20 years ago. Depending on how deep they go determines how expensive it gets. Our well was 250 feet down.

Our well in TN was contaminated when tested. I zapped it with pool shocker and it came back clean. Don't know how it's doing these days since I don't live there anymore.

You also have to consider, what if the pump quits? I had that happen. Or if the power goes out. These days I consider a working well as backup and something to be used for outside watering. You can install a hand pump as well as an electric pump.


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## chickenqueen (Jan 9, 2016)

I'm trying to prepare in case the electric grid goes down.I now buy manual things,no electric.With the weather and world leaders going crazy you never know what the future holds.My whole way of thinking has changed dramatically.It's no longer a matter of convenience and I ask if I can I still use it if the power goes out.If I have electric it works and if there is no electric,it still works.It was a lesson I learned the hard way when a storm knocked out power and it took a week for it to be restored out here.I lost over $200 worth of food in the freezer and I have never turned it back on.I no longer freeze a bunch of food and that's why I'm going to learn to can food.If a bomb or major earthquake happens(I live on a major fault line)there goes the jars of food but we can survive an EMP or civil unrest or whatever is thrown our way,if you are prepared.I've been learning all kinds of new skills and ways of doing things.I'm even thinking of getting 3 Nubian goats for milk,to use as pack animals in case we got to leave in a hurry and to pull the plow in spring to till the garden.Everything has to have invaluable uses.Even the animals.Am I paranoid or... ?You decide but I'm having fun preparing.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

My sister had a setup where the lawn sprinklers got their water from their pond.

Robin it may only need to be primed.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Nah, the woman who used to own this place, which is like fifteen years ago, had it checked. The well pump is toast. And unless there is a way to protect it better I'm not sure I want to spend the money getting it up and running. I'd hate to put a ton of money in it just to have lightning take it out again.


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

Is there some kind of surge protector that can be wired in
between the pump and power source?


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

There is a lightning arrestor but they're not 100%. I've got a whole house surge protector on the house and have still lost electronics to lightning. And the lightning is not direct hits. It's hitting stuff near by and it's taking out stuff in the house.

I've worried more than once about my birds when we have those big T-storms because I know someone who lost her birds and dog to lightning hitting a tree near them.


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

robin416 said:


> It cost us 6K to put in our well in GA 20 years ago. Depending on how deep they go determines how expensive it gets. Our well was 250 feet down.


6K is darn expensive back then Robin. When I was living in Georgia, I had a new well put down in the late 90's. It cost me $1,200 and it went down 240 feet with 4" casing.
Did you have an aerator and pump to go along with the new well?


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

That was all inclusive. We didn't have to do anything but write the check and turn on a faucet. They trenched down the hill to the house, laid the power and water. Installed the pressure tank and it's bits and pieces.


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