"Michael Strickland" wrote in message

Words of a tried-and-true city person.



Now, consider where the city water comes from - most water companies get
their water from surface water (rivers/lakes) where everyone upstream has
dumped their sewage. I'd much rather drink from a well than from the end
of
somebody else's $#!+ pipe. All the water company does is filter out the
lumps
and add all sorts of chemicals to try to kill the pathogens.

You are speaking in generalizations. Plenty of cities have wells for their
water and it is as pure as can be. Some have excelllent sources of surface
water and y es, it does require a bit more treatment.

I know plenty pf people with contaminated wells. "Everything from sulpher,
to oil, to benzene to whatever. We hae a well at work that is not suitable
for drinking and after spending $10,000, it is not suitable to feed the
boilers either.

As for cost, you may drill and hit water at 50 feet, or 100 feet, or 500
feet, or never. You can get into some really serious costs in some areas.




The supposed excessive cost of a backup generator to have well water
during
an outage, mentioned in another post, is just silly. A generator provides
other uses beside just pumping water.
. Probably would be a 10 year payback if you just consider
pumping water, but the other things (particularly preventing food spoilage
and convenience) can cut deep into that payback time - particularly if you
had to rent a generator to do some work (like constructing an outbuilding)
away from the house.

Again, depends on where you live. In my last house, never had power out
more than 1 hour in 15 years. This house, only once was it out more than an
hour (about 30 hours after a hurricane) in 25 years. What would the
payback be for me? Probably over 100 years. That would be just plain
silly.



As for sewer being the best alternative, proper care of a septic system
drastically increases the length of time that a drainfield lasts so that
replacement cost is spread over 20-30 years, possibly even more depending
on
soil type.
When I had my
tank pumped after 7 years (new system and had it pumped to help figure
timeframe for pumpouts), splitting the cost over the time period gives
$2.38
per month

OK, you got me there. I'm paying almost $9 a month for sewer but have not
had any problems either. I like that.

All in all, I see the cost of city water/sewer quite comparable to
well/septic moneywise in the case that the OP proposed. Being on a well
and
in control of your water supply so that YOU and ONLY YOU determine what,
if
any, chemicals are added is a great benefit.


If only you were correct. You do NOT have any control over your water
supply. You pump what is in the aquifer. Do you read the newspapers?
Stories about hundreds of well being contaminated for one reason or another?
Happens all too often. Yes, there are 100 year old wells that are good pure
water, but there are 3 year old wells that will kill you.

Your situation is, evidently, is good for you, but the circumstances must be
considered for every location on their own merits.