Home > Learning Center > Land > Off The Grid > General Considerations for Off the Grid Living > Off the Grid Water

This morning we are going
to talk about off the grid water systems.


One; City water.


If you’re close to city
water, it’s an obvious choice. Even if you hate the idea of being
connected to the city and being on the grid. If you’re close to
city water, you should bring it to your own lot.


It doesn’t cost a lot
to keep it active if you don’t use it much and it’s definitely
worth using it as a backup or primary source to get you started on
your off the grid living. A well is the most obvious choice, most of
the vendors will opt for wells.


Wells are expensive, they
can cost about ten grand, you know, for a deep well, less if it’s
not so deep and they don’t last forever, but they do last a long
time and probably the best long term option for water at most off the
grid situations and rural living.


To get the water out of
the well, you want to use wind, so you can use mechanical wind power,
and just pump it out mechanically, or you can generate electricity
with the wind and use the electric pump.


Generating electricity
with the wind may have some other benefits for you in off the grid
living. Also solar, many of you will already be using solar off the
grid for electricity. You can power an electric water pump to pump
the water out of the well.


You can use a hand pump;
hand pump is also great backup. If you’re not doing a lot of
agriculture or raising livestock. A hand pump may be all you need if
you just pumping water for yourself and your family. It’s a great
permanent solution that never breaks; almost never breaks.


You might want to store
water. Water storage is important; the less plentiful your source of
water, the more you want to invest in storage, right. You’ll need
to store for longer periods if your water is less plentiful and less
frequent at the source. Rain is a great option meaning off the grid
use rainwater they store in barrels, especially design systems for
gathering rain off of roofs and storing in barrels. This can be great
for gardening and livestock, and even human consumption water if
treated properly.


Hauling water is another
great option. I mean, many lots of tanks. Homesteads used to put lots
of tanks underground or above ground; and the tanks, as long as
they’re clean, can be any kind of really good tank. So, it doesn’t
have to be a super expensive tank but for long term storage for say,
a prepper may make sense even if he doesn’t think he’s ever going
to use it, they can store it for an emergency or temporary storage
people who have temporary needs of water during the year, but not
ongoing may want to store large amounts underground, or above ground
or just as a regular buffer. Right?


I mean storage is an
issue and so you can always have the water holding and you can store
it in a large tank. Most real lots have people hauling water into
them and so if your neighbours are doing it, you can share costs with
the delivery and have huge water deliveries made and Philip huge
tanks that can last you months and months and months at a time.


So there’s another
option or many options for taking care of water off the grid.